Can You Save Me
by Skye Coulson
Summary: Phil is sent on-loan to the CIA to work for his baby sister on her current op, leaving former DCS Arthur Campbell in charge of his team in his absence. From the moment he leaves, Skye senses something will go terribly wrong with his op. Is she paranoid or is it some form of woman's intuition? Skye/Coulson pairing. Read & review, please!
1. Scared

**Can You Save Me**

**Disclaimer:  
**I own nothing.

**Rating:  
**T (Just 'cause I'm paranoid + I never really know where I'm gonna end up when I start writing...)

**Genre:  
**Romance/Hurt/Comfort

**Pairing:  
**Coulsye (Coulson/Skye)

**Lyrics Used:  
**Zendaya "Scared"

**Author's Note:  
**So, I'm still toying around with names for this pairing (Skye/Coulson)...Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions. But, until I find something better, I'm sticking with 'Coulsye'.

**Author's Note (2):  
**I took a _weeeee_ little bit of creative license. I've taken the _Covert Affairs _character, Annie Walker, and made her Phil's baby sister, Annie _Coulson_. ... And, I gave Phil a _really _embarrassing middle name...Just 'cause I thought it'd be funny given the context of that scene...You'll see...

* * *

Scared

* * *

_Baby, I can't live without you | I'm slowly dyin' | Baby, without you, I'm scared_

_I just wanna love ya, I just wanna love ya | I just wanna love ya, I just wanna love ya | Scared of what it feels like to be alone_

_Scared of what it feels like to miss ya | Scared of what it feels like not to kiss ya | Scared of what it feels like to be alone_

_(I'm scared...I'm scared...I'm scared...I'm scared)_

___You leave | Just me | These walls watching me bleed | I'm screamin' | I'm hurtin' | I'm beggin' you for mercy_

_No you | No me | It's just the shadows I see | No savior | Hail Mary | Who's gonna rescue me?_

* * *

"Who the hell are _you_?!" Skye demanded from the open door to her boss and mentor, Agent Phil Coulson's, office. Although, the man and woman she found currently occupying said office were very much _not _Agent Coulson.

"I'm Agent Coulson." The woman replied. Looking at her, Skye noticed she appeared to be between five-ten and six foot in height, athletic build-this woman clearly worked out at _least_ as hard as Agent Ward worked Skye-if not harder, with shoulder length brown hair. _She kinda looks a _little _like AC...Maybe like a sister or something..._Skye silently assessed. The man, on the other hand, was taller with a broader build-not heavy, definitely more muscular-and appeared to be at _least _ten years older. _Definitely no relation to this new chick or AC._

"Bullshit." Skye argued. "I know Agent Coulson-first of all, he's a man. And, unless you got some freaky-ass secret you wanna share, 'Agent Coulson'..." Skye sneered, pausing briefly, crossing her arms over her chest, readying herself for a confrontation. "Then, you're lying." Little did Skye know, the Agent Coulson _she _knew and worked with was standing not three feet behind her, watching the exchange with an amused smirk on his face. "And, you?" She added, tilting her chin toward the older man in the office. "What lies _you _wanna try to sell me?" She asked, challengingly.

"I'm Arthur Campbell." The older man introduced himself, his voice firm and stance daring the young hacktivist to challenge him. "I'll be filling in for Agent Coulson on a temporary basis. So, for the time-being...I'm your new boss."

"Wow..." Skye replied, sarcastically. "You two are real pieces of work. You _really _think you're gonna fool me with those lies, don't you?"

"They're not lies." Phil interjected, finally taking mercy on his young protege.

Whipping around in her place at his doorway, Skye's eyes widened in shock as she stared directly into the face of her AC. "AC?" She asked, clearly confused. "What are you...Who are these people in your office?"

Joining Skye in his own doorway, Phil replied "They're exactly who they say they are." He began cryptically. "This young woman is my baby sister, Agent Annie Coulson, from the Central Intelligence Agency-"

Whipping back around to face the strangers in Coulson's office, Skye interjected. "You're with the CIA?!" Turning back to AC, she added "You have a sister?!"

"You just _love_ sticking that 'baby' label on the 'sister' title, don't you, Phil?" Annie countered, striding across the room to stand next to her older brother.

"What else would you call a sister ten years younger than you?" Phil quipped. "And, yes, I do." He added, fondly, as he turned his attention back to the young hacktivist at his side. "And, this-" Phil gestured toward the other man in the office. "-is her former boss, Arthur Campbell. Arthur used to work for the CIA as well-he was their DCS for several years."

"'DCS'?" Skye asked, curiously.

"Director of Clandestine Services." Arthur replied, proudly. "One of the three public faces of the CIA."

"Okay, so...Who wants to tell me what the _hell's _goin' on, here?" Skye wondered. "And, just how in the hell did you get on the plane?"

"How we got here is irrelevant." Arthur replied, cryptically, not settling any of Skye's concerns.

"That's Arthur's way of saying 'It's a spy thing'." Annie translated, still not _really _addressing any of Skye's questions. "And, we're here because I will be borrowing my brother for an op at Langley." _Finally, we're getting somewhere._ Skye thought to herself. "Given that the details of the op are classified, all I'm at liberty to say is that the operative we _intended_ to use for this op found a bomb in his car...The hard way." Skye couldn't have stopped the involuntary cringe at that response if her life had depended on it. "And, since good field operatives are hard to find-particularly on less than a moment's notice...S.H.I.E.L.D. has agreed to give us my brother on loan for the duration of this mission. Since we don't even want to _think _about the repercussions of allowing the lunatics to run _this _multi-billion dollar asylum, Mr. Campbell has graciously agreed to fill in for my brother while he's away."

Skye was on high alert. She didn't like the idea of the man that she had secretly fallen for being whisked away to God knows where for God knows long. The mere thought of it all didn't sit well with her. "You're leaving us?" She asked, incredulously, turning her attention to Phil.

"Temporarily." Phil reassured her. He could see the fear written in her soft doe eyes and tried to bring her whatever comfort he could without divulging sensitive intel. "I'll return to the bus as soon as the op's over." He added, resting what he hoped would be a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Skye understood what AC was trying to do and definitely appreciated his efforts. But, that still didn't mean she had to like the situation as a whole. "So...Where are you going?" She asked, her voice uncharacteristically timid.

"That's classified." Annie interjected. She knew all about this young woman. She also knew how fond her older brother was of the young hacktivist. She hated putting this kind of strain on their tenuous relationship, but, she knew she had no choice.

Glancing back and forth between Phil and Annie, Skye's gaze landed upon the older Coulson, once again, as she asked "H-How long are you gonna be gone?" Her voice was growing smaller with each passing question. Phil hated the effects this op would have on Skye, but, his hands were tied. He knew, in his heart, that if there were any other operatives fit for this assignment at her disposal, that's where Annie would be at that moment. But, before he could try to comfort Skye, his sister cut him off, again.

"That's classified." Annie stated, repeating her previous response.

"Okay, ya know what, I've had it with you!" Skye half-shouted, the stress of everything finally taking its toll on her. "Your brother's a big boy! He can speak for himself!"

"Skye, as much as it _pains _me to admit it..." Phil began, his voice only half-joking. Though, he did enjoy the glare from his younger sister. "Annie's right. The details of this op are extremely sensitive. I'm afraid I can't share of them with you. Sadly...My hands are tied." He admitted, his voice uncharacteristically resigned and an equally uncharacteristic sadness in baby blue eyes.

Skye saw the look in Phil's eyes and ached for it. She hated the situation. She hated everything _about _it. She hated that Phil was leaving them. She hated that his _own sister_ was taking him from them. She hated that nobody was telling her where he was going or when he would be back. Reacting defensively, she glared at Annie and fired back "I hacked _S.H.I.E.L.D. _from my _van-_from a laptop I won in a bet! You do realize that-with all this tech around here-I could _easily _hack the CIA in my _sleep_!"

Staring directly into the eyes of the young hacker, Annie coolly replied "Not with your little fashion accessory, there, you can't." Glancing down to the glowing bracelet around her wrist, Skye mentally cursed herself. _Damn it! Completely forgot about the stupid thing!_ Understanding where Skye's attitude was coming from, Annie softened her voice to a warmer, gentler tone as she spoke sincerely. "Look, Skye...I understand your concerns, really I do. _Nobody_ is more concerned with my brother's safety than I. I give you my word...I will do _whatever it takes _to bring my brother back to you in _exactly _the same condition in which I borrowed him."

Skye looked directly into the eyes of the older spy before her. Deep down, she knew that spies like AC and Annie _never _dropped their guard the way that Annie was, right now. She knew she could trust the vow Annie had just made to her. But, one last thing still bothered her. "How do you know my name?"

"Well, from the attitude you gave us, it was the only logical assumption." Annie replied, simply, as if it were plain as day.

"My 'attitude'?" Skye demanded, harshly. "Whaddo you mean, my 'attitude'?!"

"My brother talks." Annie shrugged, chuckling slightly at the glare from her older brother. "Especially about you. He's really quite fond of you-"

The younger Coulson was soon cut off by the sound of someone angrily clearing their throat. Looking over at her brother, she couldn't resist snickering at the ever so slight pink tinge to his cheeks. "We really should be going, now, _Anne Catherine_!" Phil attempted to snarl angrily, knowing how much his baby sister hated her full first and middle names. But, the agent failed miserably as his voice cracked and squeaked not unlike that of a teenage boy going through puberty.

"All _right_, we're going..." Annie paused before a wicked smirk played across her face. "Phillip _Quilliam_..." The younger Coulson knew she was taking a sick amount of pleasure from her brother's embarrassment, but, he really brought it upon himself, revealing her own middle name. "Hey, you opened the door, I just waltzed right in..." She added, holding her hands up in mock surrender before sobering up enough to tend to business. "In all seriousness, though...I'll give you a moment to say your goodbyes. You can meet me at the car." She spoke, her voice soft and warm, as she rubbed her brother's shoulder supportively.

As the younger Coulson took her leave, Skye returned her focus to her AC, and did what she did best when she was upset or worried about something. She made a joke. "So...Your middle name's really '_Quilliam_'?" She asked, disbelievingly.

"Don't _ever _say that name, again..." Phil warned the young hacker with a subtle snarl in his voice which would have terrified a stranger. However, the playful glare in his eyes gave him away.

"Noted." Skye replied, mimicking Phil's own classic go-to response, as a playful smirk played across her lips before her face fell-along with every last one of her defenses. "So...That's it, then?" She asked, her voice far more pathetic than she would ever admit to.

Stepping closer to the young hacker, Phil set his duffel bag at his feet before placing a hand on either of Skye's shoulders. "I promise you...I _will _come back." Something about the solemnity in Phil's voice made Skye actually believe him. This was Phil Coulson, after all. Quite possibly the only man on the face of the planet that could ever survive being 'shanked by the Asguardian Mussolini' to use his own words. _If he could survive that, he can survive, anything...Right?_ Skye tried to reason all of her fears and worries away.

Finally meeting his gaze, Skye replied weakly "I'm holding you to that, ya know..."

Phil saw the tears beginning to well up in the young hacktivist's warm doe eyes and he ached for them. To be perfectly honest, he hated the situation every bit as much as she did. He hated to be leaving Skye in any fashion. But, the secrecy of the whole situation just made it that much worse. "That's what I'm counting on." He replied, yearning to take the young woman who had unknowingly stolen his heart into his arms just once before he left. However, he didn't dare make such a display in front of Arthur Campbell-or anyone else, for that matter. It was too risky; especially given that he wasn't at all certain of Skye's feelings toward him. Deciding it was safest to take his leave before he did something stupid like kissing her, Phil reluctantly released his grip on her shoulders as he picked up his duffel bag and swiftly made a silent exit.

Watching AC leave, Skye just couldn't shake the feeling deep within her gut that something was going to go horribly wrong with..._whatever _project Phil was going to be assigned. Instead, she decided it would be best to distract herself with something else. Turning her attention back to the only other remaining occupant in the office, Skye asked "So...You're our new boss, huh?"

"Yes." Arthur replied, his voice purely professional-almost clinical. "However, I believe you'll find me to be somewhat less uptight than Agent Coulson. For starters, you can call me 'Arthur'." He added in what he hoped was a more friendly voice, as he strode across the office to offer his hand to the young hacktivist.

"Yeah..." Skye began, hesitantly. "First thing you should probably know about me...Not really a handshake kinda girl." Skye corrected. "Secondly...The whole 'less uptight' thing...Yeah, that remains to be seen. Doesn't really take much to be less uptight than AC." She countered, recalling all the times AC had insisted she call him either Agent Coulson or just Coulson...Even though she could tell, deep down, that he actually enjoyed her pet name for him.

"Right, well..." Arthur began, awkwardly. "Why don't you go and get the rest of your team together and we'll get on with the rest of our formalities?" Arthur suggested, just as awkwardly. Realizing that she would **much **rather be _anywhere _else, at the moment, Skye just nodded wordlessly as she took off in search of her teammates.

* * *

**Author's Note (3):  
**Well, there's the first chapter. I had originally intended to do a one-shot, but, I felt like I was starting to ramble (I'm kinda prone to that) so I decided to make it a chapter fic. I do better with chapters, I feel like. So, I hope you enjoyed this introductory chapter. Please read and review! And, add me as an alert if you _really _like it! ;)


	2. Get Your Game On

**Can You Save Me**

**Disclaimer:  
**Y'all know the drill. I own nothing. While I _did _create the _name_, "Annie Coulson", I am not taking credit for the character, because she is really just Annie Walker from _Covert Affairs_ just with a different name.

**Rating:  
**T (just to be safe...and a little paranoid)

**Genre:  
**Romance/Drama (with a little action and hurt/comfort...just for good measure)

**Pairing:  
**Coulsye

**Lyrics Used:  
**Big & Rich (feat Cowboy Troy) "Get Your Game On (Unleash the Beast) Version"

**Author's Note:  
**I know I said I was putting all my other projects on hold until I finished "Sometimes, It's Easier To Lie". But, I'm full of shit. So, here's a new chapter for those of you waiting for the continuation of "Can You Save Me". This idea just struck me out of nowhere and I wanted to run with it before I lost it. So, I hope y'all enjoy it! Also, I just wanted to let you all know, I'm almost positive that I've misspelled some things in Annie's explanation of Phil's mission. But, as I'm unfamiliar with the terms used in the actual _Covert Affairs _episode that the mission is based on, I'm just doing the best that I can going off of the pronunciations in the dialogue.

* * *

Get Your Game On

* * *

_Turn it up | Turn it on | Turn it loose | Oooh-oooo-OH Oooh-ooooo | Give it everything | Win or lose | Oooh-oo-OH Oooh-oooo | Time to own it | Rock it | Let everybody know ya got it | Yeah, get your game on_

_Get your game on_

_Ice water pumpin through my veins | I'd watch | We're changin' the game_

_Turn it up | Turn it on | Turn it loose_

_Like Pele on a breakaway | One-on-one, __tête-à-tête_

_Give it everything | Win or lose_

_Unleash the beast | The flame is on | Get your game on_

* * *

"Hey, Fitzsimmons..." Skye greeted, popping her head into the door of the lab where her two friends were busily working away on one project or another. She wasn't really sure what, exactly. As they both looked up from what they were doing, Skye furiously racked her brain for what to say. _I can't just open with 'Hey, Coulson's leaving us for some super secret mission for the CIA.' or 'Coulson's baby sister's whisking him away to God knows where for God knows how long to do God knows what'..._Finally, she decided S.H.I.E.L.D. may be on to something with vague responses. "There's a big meeting in Coulson's office. Everyone's being summoned."

"Really?" Fitz asked, curiously, setting down his equipment and saving his progress on the computer before shutting it down in his preparations to leave the lab.

"I didn't know anything about any meetings, today." Simmons observed, curiously, before setting her own tools down. "Did you, Fitz?" She asked, turning to the other half of her brain.

"No, I hadn't heard a thing..." Fitz mused as he and Simmons joined Skye at the door to the lab. "D'you know what it's about?" He asked, turning his attention on the hacker.

Deciding vaguer was better, Skye just skipped around the question, answering the question she _wanted _to answer, instead. "I've no idea. All I know is I'm supposed to round everybody up and send them up to Coulson's office." And, before they could ask her any more hard questions, Skye briskly turned her attention to May and Ward as they sparred in the gym. "Hey, Ward! May!" She called out, effectively halting their sparring match just as May flipped Ward over her shoulder.

Accepting May's proffered hand, allowing her to help him back on to his feet, Ward turned his attention to Skye after offering May a small, proud, smile. "What's up?" He asked, only slightly out of breath.

"There's some big meeting up in Coulson's office." Skye replied, gesturing off in the general direction of their boss and mentor's office. "I'm not really sure what's going on, I'm just supposed to round everyone up and send them to the office." Once again trying to dodge the hard questions, Skye just turned and left before Ward or May could ask any.

"Did she seem a little strange to you?" Ward asked May, curiously, before wiping his face with a towel and downing a large swallow of his water.

"More than a little." May conceded as she mimicked Ward's actions-wiping her face and drinking a large swallow of water. "Then, again, so many things that girl does are strange, to me." She added, with a sly smirk.

Nodding in agreement, Ward added "That may be..." He conceded. "But, we better get up there and see what's going on." He added, gesturing for May to follow him up to their boss's office.

* * *

"So, now that we're here, mind filling me in on what I'll be doing for the CIA?" Phil asked his sister, cheekily, as they entered her office. Once inside, Phil made himself comfortable on the sofa in the office.

Closing the door behind her, Annie crossed over to her desk where she picked up a manilla folder before moving to join her brother on the sofa. Picking up the remote on her end table, Annie clicked the television screen on the wall before them to life as she began to speak. "I'm sending you to Paris to cultivate an asset named Salma Devrien. She was born and raised in Klichi Souvoire. Her father was french. Her mother is from Elapo. She works for the Syrian Embassy as a social secretary." Annie began, filling her brother in with the specifics on his asset while he read along in his folder. Rising from the sofa, Annie paced the room as she continued. "We think she may be vulnerable because her fiance of two years just left her and she is a week late in her rent."

"You think that Syria may be reconstituting their weapons program?" Phil questioned, his eyes never leaving the folder before him.

"We think it may be helpful to have a friend inside the embassy. Nothing more." Annie explained.

"It's hard to believe there isn't someone in the Paris station who isn't able to do that." Phil challenged, finally looking back up to his sister.

"To be perfectly honest with you, Phil, I suggested you for this op because the only operatives we have available are women and they're all prone to...how do I put this delicately..." Annie trailed off, searching for the right words. "Abusing the privilege." She finally finished as her brother nodded his understanding. It was well-known that female operatives drooled at the opportunity to go to Paris.

"I see." Phil conceded. "I still don't see why the Paris station can't handle this." He reiterated, still in search of answers.

"Their operatives are all tied up in other, higher priority, missions." Annie replied, sounding more like she was reciting information from a textbook. "At least, that's what they told me when I mentioned that very point to them." She added.

That made sense. It was an excuse Phil, himself, had heard on many occasions. "So, when do I leave?" He asked, accepting the explanation.

"Your flight leaves in an hour." Annie explained, smiling at her brother, gratefully. "Just go and use your best judgment." She added, before a sly smirk played across her face. "And bring back receipts." Annie threw in the last comment just as Phil had been on his way out.

The remark had been meant with a playful glare thrown at her from over Phil's shoulder. Without another word, the older Coulson left his sister's office to prepare for his mission.

* * *

Walking into Phil Coulson's office, Fitz, May, Ward and Simmons were all shocked to see the man waiting for them in the office was most definitely _not _Phil Coulson. "Who the hell are you?" Ward immediately questioned with a confrontational stance.

"My name is Arthur Campbell." Arthur replied, smoothly, as he rose from his seat behind Coulson's desk.

"What are you doing here?" May asked, an eerie calm to her voice with an ominous look in her eyes.

"I'll be filling in for Agent Coulson, temporarily." Arthur explained, calmly, refusing to allow May's intimidating presence to phase him.

"Where, exactly, _is _Agent Coulson?" Simmons asked, curiously. Part of her wasn't one hundred percent certain she really wanted to know the answer to the question. But, the scientific part of her brain would never be satisfied until she got it.

"That's classified." Arthur replied, clinically. His voice was cold and detached. It didn't set well with the other agents before him. Before he could say another word, however, he was immediately cut off by Ward's outburst.

"Bullshit." Agent Grant Ward hissed. "You really think you can just waltz right in here and take over while our boss disappears and only tell us that his location is 'classified'!" He challenged. "You're gonna have to do a hell of a lot better than that."

"Believe me, Ward." Skye began, just as frustrated with the situation as her teammates were. "I tried that. I caught him and Coulson's younger sister in here while Coulson was packing and getting ready to leave. AC, _himself_, wouldn't even give me any more than we're getting from Campbell." She explained, turning her attention on the new man on the bus. "I'm still not happy about this, by the way." The hacktivist added, petulantly.

"I sympathize with you all." Arthur began, trying to placate the team of spies before him. "Truly, I do. This situation is _far _from ideal." He admitted. "And, if I _could _tell you more, I would. But, for now, we're all just going to have to make the best of a bad situation." The former DCS added, firmly. "For now, all I'm at liberty to say is that Agent Coulson has been sent on loan to the Central Intelligence Agency for a one-time operation. Once the mission has been completed, he will be promptly returned to you all." Arthur explained, coolly.

"Where?" May asked, challengingly. The look on her face and in her eyes dared Arthur to lie to her.

"That's classified." Arthur repeated, ever the epitome of calm, cool, and collected.

"So..." Fitz began, frustrated with his lack of knowledge in this situation. "Let me get this straight...You mean to tell us that Agent Coulson has been sent on loan to another agency..." He began as Simmons chimed in, continuing his train of thought.

"And, you can't tell us _where _he's being sent..." The bio-chemist added.

"Or what he'll be doing..." The rocket scientist chimed.

"And, you can't tell us when he'll return?" The bio-chemist added, completing the thought.

"Precisely." Arthur added, clinically. "Believe me, I understand your frustration." He repeated. "But, there's nothing I can do. My hands are tied. The only thing any of us can do, now, is to go about our business and do the best that we can to work together until Agent Coulson returns and life on this plane can finally get back to normal." The former DCS explained, calmly.

"So, what do you want us to do, in the meantime?" Skye half-asked half-snarled, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at Arthur.

"Just go on about your daily routines." Arthur replied, gently. "If a mission comes in, for you all, I'll let you know." He explained, sitting back down behind the desk. "That'll be all." He finished, dismissively.

Exchanging concerned glances amongst themselves, the team understood that they would not be getting any further information from their new boss. With that silent understanding, they all left the office to return to their prior activities. All except for Skye who fetched her laptop from her bunk and retreated to her SUV for some much-needed 'me time'.


	3. Mama Said Knock You Out (Part 1)

**Can You Save Me**

**Disclaimer:  
**As always, I own nothing.

**Rating:  
**T

**Genre:  
**Romance/Hurt/Comfort

**Pairing:  
**Coulsye

**Lyrics Used:  
**Five Finger Death Punch "Mama Said Knock You Out"

**Author's Note:  
**Just a head's up, I used Google Translate for the French, so, I apologize if the French is terrible.

* * *

Mama Said Knock You Out

* * *

_Don't call it a come back | I been here for years | Rocking my peers and putting suckers in fear | Making the tears rain down like a MON-soon | Listen to the bass go BOOM | Explosion, overpowering | Over the competition, we're towering | Wrecking shop, when I drop these lyrics that'll make you call the cops | Don't you dare stare | You better move | Don't ever compare | Us to the others that'll all get sliced and diced | Competition's paying the price_

_I'm gonna knock you out | Mama said knock you out | Mama said knock you out | Mama said knock you out | Mama said knock you out_

* * *

While watching Ms. Devrient, Phil heard the encrypted cell that Annie's tech operative, Auggie, had given him ring. _"So, you've been there for three days, already."_ His sister stated, by way of greeting, before he'd even been given the chance to say a single word. _"What have you learned?"_ She asked, her tone completely professional, almost clinical.

"I've learned she likes routines...She clearly has a _good _eye for accessories..." Phil began, sounding just as clinical, with a slight smirk on his face as he could almost hear his sister grinning at his remark about the accessories. "She's not crazy about her co-workers..." Before Phil could go any further, his sister cut him off.

"You do realize you _will _eventually have to initiate contact at some point." Annie couldn't resist prodding her brother.

"Is that your way of telling me you miss me?" Phil joked. He loved taunting his younger sister whenever the opportunity presented itself.

"Yeah, sure." Annie only half-teased. "Joke now, just wait until the bean-counters get a hold of ya..." That part was partially true. The accountants at Langley were far stricter than those at S.H.I.E.L.D. "Don't expect those excuses to hold water with accounting." She warned, lightly. "Or Joan, for that matter. Ya know? My boss?" Annie taunted. Letting her brother off the hook, Annie ended with "Just stay focused, find your in, and all will be fine."

"I think..." Phil began, following Ms. Devrient into an art gallery. "I have an opening..." He explained, glancing around. "Nineteenth century portraits."

"You call that an opening?" Annie challenged, with slight amusement to her voice.

"Got any good conversation starters?" Phil asked, curiously.

"Just the ones Auggie's given me..." Annie chuckled. "But, those all require that you not be to see..."

"Thanks." Phil replied, flatly, before ending the call and deciding to just dive right in. After all, it is what he did best.

* * *

_The Next Day_

* * *

Okay, so, the art gallery had been a bust. Phil Coulson was _not _the kind of man to let one little set-back get him down. Plus, it looked as if _his _luck was looking _up_ while _Ms. Devrient's _was taking a turn for the _worse_. Phil watched as a man dressed in all black from head-to-toe snatched Ms. Devrient's purse right off her shoulder.

"Arrêtez cet homme! Il a volé mon sac à main!" Ms. Devrient screamed as the thief ran off with her purse. " Arrêtez! Voleur!" Jumping into action, Phil ran over to the distressed young woman as everyone else around them ignored her pleas.

"Excusez-moi, madame." Phil greeted. "Êtes-vous d'accord?" He asked, checking on the distressed young woman.

"Que l'homme!" Salma screamed, pointing after the thief. "Il a volé mon sac à main!" She screamed, pleading for Phil's help.

"Attendez ici." Phil instructed, gesturing for Salma to stay put as he took off running after the thief. Salma, meanwhile, watched in shock as some strange man ran after the man that had stolen her purse, as he tackled the man to the ground. This new stranger pummeled the thief with combat skills unlike any she'd ever seen. _Il ressemble à un ninja d'une sorte de film …_ She thought to herself as she watched the stranger, in awe, as he returned with her purse in his hand.

"Il vous, mademoiselle." Phil spoke, rather charmingly.

"Merci! Merci beaucoup!" Salma replied, gratefully, rummaging through the purse, verifying that all of her belongings were, in fact, present.

"J'espère que tout est là." Phil added, shyly.

"Oui! Oui, tout est là!" Salma replied, smiling brightly. "Je ne sais pas comment je peux jamais vous rembourser!" She cried, throwing her arms around Phil gratefully. As they broke the embrace, an idea came to her. "Oh! Je sais!" She proclaimed.

* * *

"Did you read him in, yet?" Joan asked, curiously, entering Annie's office.

"Is that Joan?" Phil asked, curiously, hearing his sister's boss and friend on the other end of the line.

"Hello, Phil." Joan Campbell greeted, grinning cheekily.

"Good to hear your voice." Phil added, smiling. "Read me in on what?" He asked curiously.

"There's been increased chatter out of Damascus." Annie explained, in full Agent Coulson mode. "We think Makmoon Kanaan is on the move."

"'Chemical Kanann's here?" Phil asked, surprised. "In Paris?"

"We don't know." Joan replied. "It would be lovely if you could stop people watching and answer that question." She added, cheekily.

"Okay..." Phil began, his mind already in overdrive. "Can I get something to ID him with?" He asked, trying to formulate a plan of action.. "A photo-"

"We would if we could, but, we can't." Annie chimed in, cutting her brother off, mid-thought. "'Chemical Kanann' is a ghost."

"Twenty years flouting IAEA non-proliferation sanctions and we _still_ don't know what he looks like." A frustrated Jai Wilcox interjected.

"Good to hear from you, too, Jai." Phil added, off-handedly. "Well, I really should be going. I have a date with Ms. Devrient."

"Ooh, really?" Annie taunted, grinning wildly.

"Yes, I saved her purse from a street thief and she insisted on buying me a drink to repay me." Phil replied, proudly.

"Well, have fun." Annie replied, smiling. "And, remember...Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

* * *

"It's okay if you'd rather speak in English." Salma stated by way of greeting as Phil joined her at a small wine bar.

"Thank you." Phil replied, gratefully. "I'm in Paris on business and, I'm still working on my French."

"Really?" Salma asked, through her thick French accent. "I couldn't tell. Your French is very good." She complimented, flirtatiously.

"Well..." Phil began, returning her flirtation, as he raised his glass of wine. "In that case, merci beaucoup." After they toasted Phil's French, Phil added. "So, I'm sorry to ask, but...My sister happens to be something of a connoisseur of designer handbags. That one must have set you back a fortune. I'm glad I was able to recover it for you."

"Yes, well..." Salma replied, sheepishly. "I bought that bag after my fiance left me. I couldn't really afford it, but..."

"Mmm..." Phil added, thoughtfully, downing a sip of his wine before replacing the glass on the table. "I believe Annie would call that 'Retail Therapy'." He added, cheekily.

"'Retail Therapy'." Salma repeated, thoughtfully. "I like that. Works so much better than ice cream." She added, before her smile fell. "At least until the credit runs out."

"_You _need a better paying job." Phil replied, warmly.

"Or a better breed of fiance." Salma argued.

"Mmm...Sometimes, the two can go hand-in-hand." Phil replied, flirtatiously.

Salma couldn't resist smiling and chuckling flirtatiously at Phil's comment before remembering her _current _job. "I really should be going. The Embassy will want me to report my bag missing."

"But, you got it all back in one piece." Phil argued, hoping to delve a little further with Ms. Devrient.

"I know, but, they have their rules." Salma insisted. "They will want me to change _all _the locks and passwords."

Finally deciding on going for the Hail Mary Pass, Phil replied "I know this is completely last-minute, and entirely forward...But, I have this black tie thing to go to, tonight." He spoke, peering up at Salma seductively. "I hate going to these things alone. It's so boring."

"You want to go with me?" Salma asked, surprised. "Tonight?"

"Do you already have plans?" Phil asked, curiously.

"Well, no." Salma admitted. "Oh, I don't know. I...I kind of met this man, yesterday..."

"You little minx. You work so fast." Phil grinned. "What's his name? Where'd you meet him?"

"His name is George. But, it's nothing, really!" Salma assured Phil. He was very attractive and she didn't want to miss any opportunities. "Not yet, anyway. But, he say he was going to call."

"You're gonna go home and wait by the phone?" Phil challenged, smirking. "When you could be out with a sure thing? Oh! Trust me..." He added, leaning back in his chair as he smiled proudly. "You gotta play harder to get." In that moment, Phil knew-from the look in Salma's eyes-he had her right where he wanted her.

* * *

_Later That Night_

* * *

Walking into the gala hall, Phil smiled warmly as he slipped an arm around Salma's waist as he led her through the doors. Gazing around the hall, Salma took Phil by the hand and asked in wonder "You go to parties like this for work, _every night_?!"

"Not _every _night." Phil replied, smiling.

"Oh! I need to find the ladies' room." Salma replied, sheepishly.

"Oh. Okay." Phil smiled. "I'll meet you right over there." He added, gesturing to an empty place at the bar.

"Okay." Salma smiled, setting off in search of the ladies' room.

Walking over to the bar, Phil smiled at the bartender as he asked. "Deux cocktails au champagne, s'il vous plaît." He asked, politely.

"C'est un costume de bonne mine." A young blonde greeted, approaching him at the bar.

"Merci." Phil replied, smiling politely, before turning his attention back to the bar.

"Il serait mieux sur mon plancher de la chambre." The young woman added, batting her eyes, seductively.

_Oh, please..._Phil thought to himself, exasperatedly. "Pas dans cette vie." Phil spoke icily, glaring daggers at the young woman. Evidently, that did the trick as he watched the young woman stalk off.

"Your sister didn't believe in Kismet." Phil was surprised by the smooth voice of his sister's old friend, Eyal Levin. "Bonsoir."

"Bonsoir!" Phil smiled, shaking the Isreali man's hand. "This is-"

"A pleasant surprise, I hope." Eyal interjected, smiling.

"It is. Very much so." Phil replied. "Who knew you were a patron of the arts!"

"Well, what can I say?" Eyal asked cheekily. "I like beautiful things."

_Well, from what Annie's told me about this guy, I _know _he's not talking about me..._Phil thought to himself, analyzing the situation, as he always did. And, he knew Eyal worked for Mossad. There was only one logical conclusion. "That tux _does _suit you..." He stated, bating the Mossad agent.

"Well, I'm contractually obligated to wear it every time I'm in Paris." Eyal remarked proudly. "It's good for the image." Eyal couldn't help noticing that Phil's attention was elsewhere. "You seem distracted. Am I keeping you from something?"

"You _are_, actually." Phil replied, only slightly annoyed. "You don't mind if we reschedule this reunion, do you?"

"Enough said. I have business to attend to, myself." Eyal smiled, graciously.

"Thank you, Eyal." Phil replied as a relieved smile played across his face.

"Let's consider it a courtesy, from...one professional to another." Eyal interjected, bating the senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "By the way, that rescue you did with the bag...Excellent spycraft, there...Well played. Much more elegant than the titanium stunt your sister pulled in Zurich."

That was the moment realization dawned on the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "How did you know?" Phil asked, suspiciously, as Salma sauntered up to Eyal.

"Vous êtes une source constante de surprise." Salma cooed, smiling up at Eyal.

"Mon petit colibri..." Eyal cooed in response, before kissing her cheek. That was when that Phil knew Eyal must have been on Ms. Devrient's scent, too.

"You two know each other?" Phil fought to keep the suspicion out of his voice for Ms. Devrient's sake, choosing to replace it with an ever-so-subtle tint of jealousy.

"Remember that man I told you about..." Salma replied, guiltily, gesturing toward Eyal with her pocketbook. "The one I just met...This is him."

To that Phil could only smile politely as he glared at Eyal. "Pleased to meet you." Eyal spoke grinning, evilly.

"Pleasure's all mine, George." Phil replied, the same polite smile plastered on his face.

"Thank you so much for bringing me, tonight." Salma cooed, smiling at Phil. "I feel just like Cinderella."

"Ah! Perfect timing!" Eyal spoke, as the bartender brought the drinks that Phil had ordered, accepting them in Phil's place. "Shall we?" He asked, handing Salma her drink, guiding her out to the dance floor. To which, Phil merely responded with a look that clearly said _You son of a bitch..._

"It's surreal, isn't it?" Salma mused. "How small is the world?! And, you two have so much in common." She observed.

"Really?" Phil asked, smiling politely. In truth, he was looking forward to seeing what crock of crap Eyal had sold her. Mostly to see if he could poke any holes in the Mossad agent's story.

"George exports antiquities out of Los Angeles and Phil represents the Smithsonian Institute." Salma observed, smiling between the two attractive new men in her life.

"Well..." Eyal began, smiling. "Perhaps we should talk, sometime." He added, passing Phil a business card.

"Oh, we should _definitely _talk, later..." Phil replied, subtly digging at Eyal as he accepted the likely phoney business card. "How, exactly, did you two meet?" He asked, curiously, turning his head to face Salma.

"That's a funny story." Salma began, smiling fondly, at the memory. "Because, it was here, in the museum...Just yesterday..."

"Right here?" Phil questioned, suspiciously.

"No, it was actually the nineteenth century portraits..." Eyal smiled, warmly, at Salma.

"Yes..." Salma agreed, clearly smitten with Eyal. "I was by myself, after work, and...From out of nowhere, George came in...Asking me about the...Brushstrokes?" She asked, hoping she got the details right. Phil couldn't resist a disgusted glance at Eyal as Salma finished her story. "And, before I knew it...We spent the next nine hours together."

"It's Kismet." Phil replied, smirking evilly.

"That's _exactly _what George said." Salma replied, surprised and excited by Phil's knowledge of 'George's exact words. "Did you hear that, George?"

"I feel like dancing." Eyal smiled as Phil recognized the comment for what it truly was-a desperate attempt to change the subject. "Would you care to dance?"

"I would love to..." Salma smiled, as she accepted the proffered hand. "Will you be okay on your own, Phil?" She asked, apologetically.

"Oh, yeah..." Phil played the set back off, coolly while his mind went into overdrive trying to figure out how to spin the situation back into his favor. _The sooner I can get out of here, the sooner I can get back to Skye..._He thought to himself. "I'll be fine!" He assured Salma, confidently, as she was whisked off to the dance floor.

* * *

As Salma was whisked away, Phil pulled out his CIA encrypted cell, dialing Annie's number. "Hey, what's up?" Annie asked, cheekily, as she answered her brother's call.

"We have a problem." Phil replied. Annie sat bolt upright at the obvious agitation in her brother's voice. "Turns out Mossad's interested in Ms. Devrient as well. They sent Eyal Levin."

"_Mossad_?! Eyal?!" Annie repeated, in shock. "Why would _they _be after Salma? Well, I doubt they'd send him on a fishing expedition. They must have a beat on _some_thing..."

"Have you heard any chatter?" Phil asked, curiously.

"Unfortunately, no." Annie admitted, just as frustrated as her brother. "We're just as frustratedly out of the loop as you are. The Israeli desk is checking on the deconfliction protocol, I went ahead and set up a line of credit with the clearing bank in case you end up in a bidding war."

"And, in the meantime?" Phil asked, impatiently.

"In the meantime..." Annie sighed, frustratedly, racking her brain for alternative plan. "Just..." _Yeah, I got nothin'..._ She had to admit it. For the first time-in a _long _time-she was truly at a loss as to how to proceed. "Just use your best judgment..." Annie finally sighed, mentally admitting defeat.

* * *

Ending the call, Phil sighed in defeat as he spotted the young blonde from earlier. Lolling his head back, Phil resigned himself to asking her to dance-if for no other reason than to buy himself some time to think of a plan of attack for Salma. Phil just decided to bite the bullet and cross the dance-floor over to her. "Voulez-vous danser?" He asked, extending his hand to her in a very cavalier manner.

"Je savais que vous venez autour." The blonde smirked, triumphantly, as she accepted the proffered hand. "Vous êtes américain, n'êtes-vous pas?" She asked, curiously, as Phil forcefully lead her around the dance-floor, purposefully guiding her into the perfect position for him to keep a watchful eye on Eyal and Salma.

"Comment savez-vous?" Phil asked, feigning curiosity rather successfully given the circumstances.

"Lucky guess..." The blonde replied, slightly out of breath from being so forcefully spun around the dance-floor.

Watching Eyal and Salma separate on the dance-floor, Phil unceremoniously dismissed his dance partner. "I'm going to go freshen up." Salma told Eyal, politely excusing herself, leaving the two men alone to talk.

"So, they have you seducing secretaries, now?" Phil asked, cheekily. "And, with that tired old line about 'Kismet'..." He tisked, tauntingly.

"You're upset, I get that." Eyal patronized as Phil rolled his eyes. "You're so focused on following Salma, you never realized you were being followed yourself. Looks like Tahiti's caused you to lose some of your edge." Before Phil could question Eyal's knowledge of Tahiti, the Mossad operative powered onward. "Listen, don't beat yourself up. I'm really good at this."

_Oh, give me a frickin' __**break**__..._Phil thought to himself, annoyed with Eyal's cavalier arrogance. "So, you like to tail me?" He scoffed.

"So..." Eyal continued on as if Phil hadn't even spoken. "How are you planning on turning her? It's the hardest thing we're tasked with. Make the wrong pitch at the wrong time in the wrong way, could all blow up in your face." The S.H.I.E.L.D. operative wasn't an idiot. He knew _exactly _what was going on. Eyal was trying to psyche him out; throw him off his game.

"How are you going to get her to spy for Mossad?" Phil asked, cheekily, turning the Mossad operative's own tactics against him.

"I'm not." Eyal replied, coolly.

"You're not?" Phil challenged.

"No." Eyal smiled, arrogantly. "I'm going to convince an impressionable young woman to do a favor for a new lover. It's a tactic tested in the field, many times." Eyal bragged. "She will never know me as anything other than George Yakos. A business man from Cypress."

"Don't get too cocky, Neshema." Phil warned, taunting Eyal with his own personal petname for Phil's baby sister. "I still have a few cards up my sleeve."

"I'd keep them a little closer to my chest." Eyal advised. "Something your baby sister still has yet to fully master."

"That was awkward." Salma announced, rejoining the two men. "I just ran into somebody from work." Glancing across the room, Eyal and Phil noticed a man-clearly from the Embassy-staring at them, suspiciously. "He asked me what I was doing here." The two spies replied in unison.

"What did you tell him?"

"What did you say?"

"That we're all friends from university and that George, here, was a pervy art collector, hoping to get lucky." Salma smiled at Eyal, cheekily.

"That sounds about right." Phil replied, grinning wickedly, the amusement more than evident in his voice.

"This place is feeling a bit tired." Salma interjected, carefully. "How about we get out of here." She added.

"Perfect idea." Eyal agreed. "Shall we?" He asked, slyly forcing Phil and Salma out of the hall.

"Finally...Some privacy..." Salma sighed, as they all settled into the limo, out front.

* * *

"It's getting late." Phil added, turning to face Eyal. "George, can we drop you somewhere?" He asked, curiously.

"What are you talking about?" Eyal grinned, wickedly, recognizing the S.H.I.E.L.D. operative's tactics. "The night is still young. I know this great little bar..."

"Why don't we just drive around a bit, okay?" Salma interjected, staring straight at Phil, as she spoke.

Nodding, Phil maintained eye contact with Salma for another beat before turning his attention to the limo driver. "Continuez pendant un certain temps, s'il vous plaît?" He asked, politely.

_"D'accord."_ The driver replied, absently, as the three passengers in the back went on about their business.

"Nothing like this ever happened to me, before..." Salma mused, staring off into space. "I settle down with the first guy to ever show me any interest and he dumped me." She pressed onward, confusing her two new suitors. "And, now there's is one stunning man..." She mused, looking to Eyal. "And, one charming, handsome man..." She added, looking to Phil. "...Both vying for my attention..." She mused. Suddenly, something clicked in Phil's mind. She was onto them. "And, I can only come up with one explanation..." _This is it..._Phil thought to himself as he patiently waited for Salma to finish her thought. "You want access to the Embassy." One thing was for sure. Salma Devrient did _not _beat around the bush.

"Don't be silly..." Eyal laughed, dismissively. Although, Phil could see the panic in the Israeli spy's eyes.

Simultaneously, Phil spoke over Eyal. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm pretty sure Phil works with the C.I.A." Salma deadpanned.

"Well, not _officially_...Just sort of filling in for someone...I'm on loan..." Phil mused, defensively.

"And, if I had to guess..." Salma pressed on, entirely ignoring Phil's interjection. "'George', here...it's not your real name, is it?" Salma asked, with a knowing smirk. "It's probably MI6?" She guessed. "You seem too Jewish to be an actual Mossad officer." She mused, turning away as Eyal offered her a look that suggested she'd gone insane.

"Too _Jewish_?!" Eyal demanded, incredulously.

"I think you've had too much to drink." Phil mused, successfully feigning concern.

"_I _think you've _lost _it..." Eyal insisted.

"Whatever..." Salma replied, dismissively. "Mamoon Kanaan's coming to town, tomorrow. And, I know where..." She added, tauntingly, enticing the two spies riding with her. "I've decided to auction off what I know to the highest bidder." She added, baiting the two spies. "Vous pouvez me déposer, ici, merci." She added, turning her attention to the driver.

"_Oui, madame_..." The driver replied, absently.

"If I'm right..." Salma began, as the limo pulled over. "I will be waiting for your offers. If I'm wrong, well..." She began, more gently, as she turned to Eyal. "It was fun while it lasted." She spoke genuinely as Eyal merely stepped out of the limo to allow her to exit the vehicle.

* * *

Phil was merely left, sitting in the back seat, shell-shocked. Sure, he'd been made a handful of times, in the past. But, never by his own mark. He had to admit that Salma Devrient was far more clever and savvy than he had initially believed. As Eyal re-entered the limo, Phil remained silent until it became clear that Eyal would not be the one to break the silence. "I _totally _did not see that one, coming, did you?" He asked, curiously.

"What is it about you Americans that brings out the worst in everyone you meet?!" Eyal demanded, angry and frustrated beyond anything he could ever even begin to put into words. Phil had absolutely no response to that asinine comment. Instead, he chose to direct his gaze out the window, rather than taking the bait from his Mossad equivalent.

* * *

Once he was alone, Phil called into Langley. "Where do we stand?" Annie asked.

"I've got Salma on the other line." Phil replied, still frustrated by the interactions with Eyal and Salma. "She says we've got a deal at fifty."

"What happened to thirty?" Annie questioned, uncomfortable with trying to get fifty out of the CIA accountants.

"Thirty was half an hour ago." Phil responded, his voice as cold as steel. "Before Mossad made their final bid."

Truthfully, Annie hated the situation every bit as much as Phil did. "All right..." Annie sighed. "Let me check with Joan."

Meanwhile, Phil could hear Jai Wilcox in the background, once again. "Why does it feel like we're bidding against _ourselves_?!" He demanded, incredulously. "We're supposed to be allies!"

Half ignoring Jai's comment, Annie fired off a text to her boss.

_50?_

As they waited for the response, Jai added "And, there is no _way _Joan authorizes _fifty_! Not even to get a beat on Kanaan."

As her phone beeped with a new text message, Annie replied to both her brother and Jai. "And, we are confirmed at fifty thousand. Make this happen, Phil." She added, directly to her brother, before smirking playfully. "And, I'll see what I can make happen with you and a certain hacktivist..."

Shaking his head at his sister's offer, Phil clicked over to Salma's line. "Salma?" He greeted. "We got a deal." He had to admit that maybe this would be better than trying to run some stupid game on the poor woman, monopolizing on vulnerability. And, with any luck, maybe it could get him back to Skye and his team that much sooner if he got straight down to business.

"Bonsoir, Phil Coulson..." Salma replied, contentedly, as she ended the call.

* * *

_The Next Morning_

* * *

Phil waited, patiently, at the coffee shop where he and Salma had arranged to meet for Phil to accept her intel and seal their deal as a CIA asset. However, about three coffees later, and it became clear that Ms. Devrient would not be attending their meeting. Phil's patience was wearing rather thin. He'd been away from home for the better part of a week, now, and he was growing rather tired of this game. All he wanted was to get back to his team and show Skye that she had absolutely nothing to worry about. That the mission had been a success...Well, _mostly_, a success...He was tired of waiting for Ms. Devrient and decided to take matters into his own hands.

After paying the tab, Phil left the coffee shop and hailed a cab to Salma's apartment building. Striding through the door, he took the elevator up to Salma's floor. He had been prepared to give the young secretary a rather thorough piece of his mind when the elevator doors opened to reveal none other than Eyal Levin standing before him. Smiling cockily, the Mossad operative greeted him with "Typical CIA...Always taking short-cuts..."

Oh, how Phil was _so _not in the mood to play Mr. Levin's childish little games, right now. Right now, all he wanted to do was meet with Salma and seal the deal and go home. "Salma was supposed to meet _me _at the café at eleven..." Phil greeted, curtly, shoving past Eyal to storm down the hall to Salma's apartment.

"And me, at the hotel, at eleven-thirty..." Eyal replied, following Phil down the hall.

Suddenly a sickening realization came over Phil. "She took _both _our offers?!" Phil asked, incredulously.

"I'm beginning to like this girl, more and more..." Eyal replied, playfully, as they arrived at Salma's apartment only to find that the door had been kicked in. Instinctively, Phil and Eyal both reached for their guns as Eyal entered the apartment, first. "Salma?" He called, searching for the young secretary.

Once they entered the apartment, Phil stayed in the living room, taking a more thorough look around at the scene before him while Eyal explored the rest of the apartment in search of Ms. Devrient. From what he saw, the apartment had been completely ransacked. Continuing his own investigation, Phil slowly moved through the hall with his gun still raised, as he surveyed the damage. Whoever was responsible was definitely looking for something particular. The question was: Did they find it? Continuing his search, Phil found Eyal in the bedroom crouched over the lifeless form of Salma Devrient with his fingers pressed to her neck.

Eyal didn't have to say a word. It was obvious to both men that the young woman was dead. The bruise around her neck where a wire had strangled the life out of her made that painfully clear. Fishing through the young woman's planner, Phil began searching for clues as to who had taken Ms. Devrient's life.

Rising from his position hovering over Ms. Devrient's body, Eyal began searching through the rest of the apartment before being shoved to the floor, causing his gun to misfire. The gunshot drew Phil's attention just in time to see a man running through the apartment. Raising his gun once more, Phil raced out of the apartment with Eyal at his side as they chased the man down the hall. Eyal managed to tackle the young man to ground before the younger man rolled himself over on top of the Mossad operative, knocking his gun down the elevator shaft.

* * *

**Author's Note 2:  
**I could continue this chapter on a little longer, but, it's 13 pages in Open Office as is...I think I'll leave it here to make it a little more approachable. I promise to continue this one just as soon as I get the next chapter of "Sometimes, It's Easier To Lie" posted. In the meantime, enjoy!


	4. Mama Said Knock You Out (Part 2)

**Can You Save Me**

**Disclaimer:  
**As always, I own nothing!

**Rating:  
**T

**Genre:  
**Romance/Drama

**Pairing:  
**Coulsye

**Lyrics Used:  
**Five Finger Death Punch "Mama Said Knock You Out"

* * *

Mama Said Knock You Out

* * *

_Don't call it a comeback | I been here for years | Rocking my peers and putting suckers in fear | Making the tears rain down like a MON-soon | Listen to the bass go BOOM | Explosion, overpowering | Over the competition, we're towering | Record shop, when I drop these lyrics that'll make you call the cops | Don't you dare stare | You better move | Don't ever compare | Us to the rest that'll all get sliced and diced | Competition's paying our price_

_I'm gonna knock you out | Mama said knock you out | I'm gonna knock you out | Mama said knock you out | I'm gonna knock you out | Mama said knock you out | I'm gonna knock you out | Mama said knock you out_

* * *

"I'll take the streets!" Phil shouted as Eyal chased the man from Salma's apartment up to the building's roof top. Watching the rooftop, Phil searched for any signs of the man coming down. Or of Eyal, for that matter. He had to get eyes on both of them before they could proceed. Finally, the S.H.I.E.L.D. operative caught sight of the two men jumping railings racing along the border of the roof before the suspect took a fire escape down before jumping over to the next rooftop with Eyal hot on his heels. Watching him slide down one angled roof to the rim of the rooftop, Phil waited anxiously for the suspect to make his inevitable landing. "Eyal!" He shouted at the Mossad operative as the suspect jumped to a third rooftop. The pursuit finally seemed to be coming to an end when the suspect attempted to leap to a fourth rooftop only to miss and slide down a few feet before gripping the edge of the roof.

"Who sent you?!" Eyal demanded, leaning over the edge of the rooftop as he stared straight into the eyes of the suspect clinging to the roof for dear life in front of him. "Whaddo you want?! Whaddo you want?!" He demanded. Watching the suspect release one hand on the roof's edge, peering down at Phil beneath him, Eyal shouted again. "Donnez-moi votre main! Donnez-moi votre main!"

Preparing for the worst scenario, Phil drew his weapon, aiming directly at the suspect. Seeing Phil's pistol aimed at him, the suspect knew he was going to die, right then and there. Whether he fell from the ledge or Phil shot him; one way or another, he was going to die. The only question was whether he wanted to be in control of it or not? Well, that and whether or not to take one of the spies with him. Deciding to take the matter into his own hands, the suspect drew his own weapon-before either Eyal or Phil could stop him. "Lâchez votre arme!" Eyal shouted, eyes widening ever so slightly in uncharacteristic shock as he realized what the suspect was preparing to do when the man cocked the weapon and aimed straight for Phil's head. "Lâchez votre arme!" He repeated.

Before either agent knew what was happening, the suspect had pulled the trigger at the precise moment that his grip on the ledge had slipped. Fortunately, for Phil, the fall had caused the bullet to miss its mark in Phil's skull. _Un_fortunately, however, the bullet still hit him square in the chest as the suspect fell the remaining ten stories to the street below, landing just at Phil's feet seconds after the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's own body had hit the ground.

* * *

"What the hell's going on, here?!" Auggie demanded as Annie entered his office, coffee in hand.

Taking in the sight of the very frazzled and frustrated head of tech ops, Annie placed the coffee on the desk before her, a safe distance away from Auggie. "What's wrong?" She asked, concerned, as she maneuvered around the desk to stand behind her head tech operative's chair, before she froze at the sight of his computer screen.

"We're completely shut down!" Auggie declared, angrily. "Everything! Phones, computers, internet...Nothing! It's all offline!" He added, sighing as the frustration bled out of him. "I don't even know who the hell _did _this-or _how _they did it-to be able to **un**do it!" Removing the headphones from his ears, Auggie placed them around his neck as he played the audio that had been playing on a loop on his computer.

_How will you come at us? From the air? From the ground? How will you silence us, this time? How **can** you? The truth is in the wind. It's everywhere. You cannot stop...The Rising Tide. You will not find us. You will never see our faces. But, rest assured...We **will** rise against those who shield us from the truth! And, nothing-**nothing**-will **ever **stop The Rising Tide._

"I can't **believe **I got hacked by the Rising Tide!" Auggie shouted, throwing his headphones down onto the table. "The _one _group I can't _un_hack!"

"Maybe not..." Annie mused, rushing out of the office. "But, I know someone who _can..._" Before anyone could question the ambiguity in her statement, Annie was gone.

* * *

"Arthur!" Annie shouted, pounding on the door of what would be her brother's office.

Throwing the door open, the former DCS looked at his former operative in shock. "What the hell, Annie?!" He asked, rather ineloquently.

"The Rising Tide completely shut Langley _down_!" Annie deadpanned. "Phones, internet, computers-**everything** is offline!" She elaborated. "I need to bring Skye in so that she can fix the damage and get us back online so that we can check in with my brother in Paris. As it is, we know absolutely nothing of his progress with Salma Devrient."

"I haven't seen her in a while." Arthur admitted. "I don't know where she is or what she's been up to-other than the activity from the bracelet your brother gave her."

"I know where she is." Annie declared, cryptically, as she stormed out of the office.

* * *

Entering the bus's garage, Annie threw open the rear passenger side door to the black SUV that her brother had told her the young hacktivist was so fond of hiding out in.

"Annie, right?" Skye questioned, by way of greeting. "What up?"

"Your little friends at The Rising Tide managed to hack Langley." Annie deadpanned with a look in her eyes that Skye couldn't quite place. _And, quite frankly, I'm not entirely sure, I _want _to place it..._She thought to herself as she closed her laptop and sat upright at the news. "I need you to come in with me and help me undo whatever damage has been caused."

"What'd they do?" Skye asked, trying to analyze the situation as she exited the SUV and followed Annie up the stairs and, ultimately, off the plane.

"Phones, computers, internet-all telecommunications have been completely shut down!" Annie growled in frustration as she threw open the door of her car. As Skye slid into the passenger seat next to her, she frustratedly admitted. "They've completely crippled us."

"What?!" Skye breathed. She couldn't believe someone from The Rising Tide would do something so blatantly malicious. "The Rising Tide is supposed to be all about the freedom of information. Not-"

"Oh, spare me the PBS special, will ya?!" Annie snapped, angrily, as she fired up the engine and peeled out. Sighing heavily, she knew she shouldn't have snapped at the young hacktivist the way that she had. It wasn't Skye that had done all the damage. "I'm sorry..." She apologized, sincerely. "I shouldn't have snapped. I just hate being crippled like this right at a crucial point in an operation-I hate it, regardless. But, right now's quite possibly the _worst _time something like this could happen." She elaborated. "Operatives can't even call in-as required to do by protocol. And, that worries me." She admitted. Skye could hear the fear and concern in the younger Coulson's voice and it worried her. "Right now, I can't track my brother's encrypted cell and _he _can't call in to update us on his progress in his operation."

"So...Right now, even _you _don't know where AC is?" Skye questioned, worriedly. "Or what he's doing?! Or even if he's _okay_?!"

Annie could hear the panic rising in the young hacktivist and knew that it would be counter-productive to their endgame to get Langley back up and running. "I know you're worried about him, Skye." She acknowledged, glancing over at the hacker in her passenger seat. "Honestly, I am, too." She admitted. "But, dwelling on the unknown won't solve anything. Right now, let's just focus on getting Langley back up and running and _then _we can figure out what's going on with my brother." Annie suggested. "Deal?"

Sighing lightly, Skye knew the older spy was right. Freaking out and worrying about Phil wouldn't get them any closer to actually being able to _find_ him and determine whether or not he was okay. "Deal." She agreed.

* * *

"Where the hell have you **been**?!" Auggie declared, the moment he smelled Annie's Joe Malone grapefruit perfume.

"Auggie, this is Skye." Annie replied as Skye set up shop in Auggie's office while Auggie maneuvered across the room. "Skye's one of my brother's operatives. She served as a hacker for The Rising Tide when Phil recruited her for his new team." She elaborated as she watched Auggie's face contort in frustrated confusion. "She knows their MO's and can-not only-undo whatever damage has been done, but, she can also reverse trace the hack and figure out who's behind it."

Returning to his chair, Auggie stood over the hacktivist. "How long is this gonna-" Before he could finish the thought, Skye cut him off.

"Done!" Skye declared, victoriously. "You should be back online." She elaborated as she shifted gears. "Now, just give me about an hour and I can give you a name."

"All right." Annie agreed. "Skye, I want you to stay here and keep working on tracing the hack." She instructed, shifting back into Agent Coulson. "Auggie, come with me to my office."

* * *

As Eyal descended down to the street below, Eyal hunched over Phil's body. The pulse was there, but, it was weak and thready. He was suddenly jolted out of his worried state when a shrill ring emitted from Phil's jacket pocket. "Neshema, as much as I would love to catch up with you, I've got much bigger fish to fry."

"Eyal?!" Annie questioned, sharply. "What the hell are you doing answering my brother's encrypted cell?" She demanded. Something was amiss and she was hellbent on getting to the bottom of it.

"The mission went awry." Eyal deadpanned. He didn't have time to come back with witty remark. "Salma's dead and your brother's just barely clinging to a thread." He elaborated.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Annie half-screeched. "What happened to my brother?!" She demanded.

"Evidently, Ms. Devrient took both the CIA's _and _Mossad's offers." Eyal added, switching the phone to speaker so that he could apply whatever first-aid measures were available to him to keep Phil alive long enough to get the medical help he so desperately required. "When she failed to make her meet with your brother-and, with myself-Phil and I ran into one another at Ms. Devrient's apartment building. Once we entered her apartment, the place had been completely ransacked. We found Salma dead on her bedroom floor. Appears she had been strangled." Eyal explained, removing his jacket to apply pressure to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's wound. "We followed a suspect out of the apartment, chased him out onto the rooftop. Your brother watched from the street below. Just before the suspect fell to _his _death, he managed to shoot your brother in the chest."

"Oh my God." Annie breathed, in shock. "Look just do whatever you can to keep my brother alive. I'm gonna mobilize his crew and put together an extraction on the double!"

Before another word could be said, Annie had ended the call and placed another. "Agent May?"

"Who is this?" The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent demanded, answering her phone.

"My name is Agent Annie Coulson. I work with the CIA. I'm Agent Coulson's sister." Annie offered, by way of explanation. "Right now, my brother desperately needs your help."

"What can I do?" Melinda asked, immediately on high alert upon hearing that he boss and friend was in danger.

"My brother's been shot." Annie replied, barking out orders. "I need you get the bus mobilized and ready to extract my brother out of Paris. I'm sending the latest GPS coordinates from the cell Langley issued Phil directly to your phone. I'll keep you updated if he moves."

"On it." Ending the call, Melinda shifted into gear, preparing the bus for take-off.

* * *

"I'm going to S.H.I.E.L.D." Annie declared, re-entering the tech ops office. "We're putting together an extraction for Phil and Eyal. We gotta get them outta there."

"What's going on?" Skye asked, worriedly.

"Things have changed." Annie replied, breathless from her frantic preparations. "My brother's been shot. We gotta get them out of there and get my brother to a hospital."

* * *

"Need ya to stay with me, Phil." Eyal spoke in a soft, gentle tone.

"Who'da thought..." Phil breathed, weakly. "I'd be relying on you...To save my life..."

"Some might call it 'Kismet'..." Eyal grinned, cheekily, trying to keep the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent talking. As long as he was talking, he was awake. As long as he was awake, he had a fighting chance.

* * *

"You Agent Coulson?" Melinda asked, curtly, as Annie climbed on board the bus.

"You must be Agent May." Annie concluded, extending the pilot her hand.

"Wheels up in five." Melinda replied, curtly, before returning to her cockpit, completely ignoring the proffered hand.

"Who are you?" Grant demanded, spotting Annie in the living area of the bus.

Turning to face the specialist, Annie replied "I'm Agent Annie Coulson. I'm Agent Coulson's sister. You are?" She asked, clinically, ready to get down to business.

"Special Agent Grant Ward." Grant replied, curtly, crossing his arms over his chest, in a confrontational manner. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm here to organize an extraction to get my brother out of Paris." Annie replied, entering the conference room with Grant on her heels, before loading her data onto the computer. "As I'm sure you're already aware, my brother was sent on loan to us for a one-time operation in Paris. However, things have changed. I need you to gather your team together. I'll fill you all in when they get here."

"What about Skye?" Grant asked. "Where is she? None of us have seen or heard from her since you took her in."

"She's busy." Annie barked. "The Rising Tide hacked Langley. I brought her in to fix the damage and trace the hack to find who was behind it. She's gotten us back online, but, she's still tracing the hack. Once she's determined who's to blame, we'll bring her back. Until then, you'll all just have to get by without her."

Nodding, Grant turned and left to gather his team. As the plane left the ground, Annie braced herself against the take-off. Once the plane had stabilized, she returned to her work on the computer.

"What's going on?" Jemma questioned, worriedly.

"Yeah, Ward was frustratingly cryptic in his orders for us to gather in here." Leo added. "And, who the bloody hell are _you_, anyway?"

"We're in the air." Melinda chimed in, curtly.

"Thank you, Agent May." Annie replied, before shifting her focus to the rest of the group. "My name is Agent Annie Coulson. I'm Agent Coulson's younger sister. I am a covert officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. The reason I've asked Agent Ward to gather you all here is because we are organizing an extraction to get my brother out of Paris." Annie explained.

"Why, exactly, are we organizing this extraction?" Grant asked, his eyes surveying the data on the screen before him.

"Because the operation went awry and my brother got himself shot!" Annie half-snapped. "My brother was sent to Paris on a mission to cultivate an intelligence asset by the name of Salma Devrient. Ms. Devrient worked for Syrian Embassy as a social secretary." She explained, loading the profile on Salma onto the screen. "The first complication came when Phil ran into an old friend of mine, Eyal Levin, from the Mossad. Evidently, Mossad was interested in cultivating Ms. Devrient, as well." The younger Coulson elaborated, moving on to the more recent progressions. "Unfortunately, Ms. Devrient was more clever than either Phil _or _Eyal had anticipated and she made both of them. It came down to a bidding war which Langley believed they had won."

"But, they didn't?" Grant asked, curiously.

"Yes and no..." Annie replied, vaguely. "Ms. Devrient accepted both our offer _as well_ as Mossad's." Annie explained.

"She was playing with fire." Grant deduced.

"And, she got burned." Annie replied, coyly. "I just spoke with Eyal Levin and he informed me that Salma failed to make her meets with both Phil and himself. They ran into one another at Salma's apartment building. There, they found Salma dead on her bedroom floor. By the looks of things, she had been strangled."

"They know who did it?" Agent Ward questioned, curiously.

"They did have one lead." Annie pointed out. "They ran across a suspect in Salma's apartment and chased him onto the rooftop. Well, _Eyal _chased him to the roof. Phil took to the streets below in case the suspect left the rooftops to escape on foot. The suspect soon fell from the rooftop. But, not before putting a bullet in Phil's chest in the seconds leading up to the fall."

The entire room fell into silence at the news of Phil's shooting. The tension in the room was palpable as all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives exchanged glances among themselves. Annie sympathized with them. She knew they all had just as much to lose as she did if they were unsuccessful.

"How long until we get to Paris?" Grant asked, tersely, looking straight at Melinda.

"Just shy of four and a half hours." Melinda deadpanned. As Annie glanced around the room, she could see the thought on her mind etched into the eyes of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents around her. _I just hope Phil can hang on that long..._

* * *

**Author's Note 2:  
**Okay, I'm officially horrible for ending this chapter there. I promise to try to make up for it in the next chapter. Also, I know I said I wouldn't be posting this until the next chapter of "Sometimes, It's Easier To Lie" was up...But...We all know I'm full of shit, by now, don't we?


	5. Nightingale

**Can You Save Me**

**Disclaimer:  
**As always, I own nothing!

**Rating:  
**T

**Genre:  
**Romance/Drama

**Pairing:  
**Coulsye  
(Possibly Annie/Eyal)

**Lyrics Used:  
**Demi Lovato "Nightingale"

* * *

Nightingale

* * *

_I can't sleep tonight | I'm wide awake and so confused | Everything's in line | But, I'm bruised | I need a voice to echo | I need a light to take me home | I kinda need a hero | Is it you_

_I never see the forest for the trees | I could really use your melody | Baby, I'm a little blind | I think it's time | For you to find me_

_Can you be my nightingale | Sing to me | I know you're there | You could be | My sanity | Bring me peace | Sing me to sleep | Say you'll be my nightingale_

* * *

Central Intelligence Agency

* * *

"I got it!" Skye declared, throwing her arms into the air in triumph as she completed her trace on the hack that had shut down the entire Central Intelligence Agency. However, her victory was short lived when she realized who had been behind it. "That son of a bitch!" She hissed, reading the name on the screen before her.

"Whadda ya got?" Auggie asked, curiously, rejoining the young hacker in his office.

"I-I figured out who hacked you guys..." Skye stuttered in sheer disbelief.

"Who was it?" Auggie asked, quirking his head to the side, confused by the tone in Skye's voice.

"His name is Miles Lydon." Skye declared, shakily, before continuing on with the rest of her findings. "He works with The Rising Tide." Sighing heavily, she added. "He's also my ex-boyfriend..."

* * *

Paris, France

* * *

"We're on the ground." Melinda May announced, curtly, as she joined the rest of the team once she had successfully landed the plane.

"Great." Annie replied. "I've got my brother's location on my cell. I'll drive." She added as they all piled into the SHIELD SUV as the cargo hatch lowered to allow their exit. After clipping her phone into place on the dashboard, she fired up the engine and pulled away.

Twenty minutes later found them in a back alley as they pulled up in front of an unconscious Phil on the ground and an uncharacteristically worried Eyal still hunched over him, his shirt stained with Phil's blood. Exiting the vehicle, the team all worriedly huddled around the two men. Crouching down beside the Mossad operative, Annie asked with fearful concern etched into her voice "How bad is it?"

"He just lost consciousness a minute or two before you all pulled up." Eyal explained in a quiet, worried tone. When he looked up at her, Annie saw an emotion she'd never seen in his warm brown eyes. Fear. Mixed with guilt.

Understanding the Israeli man's frame of mind, Annie gripped his shoulder reassuringly. "This isn't your fault." She whispered in his ear, trying to bring him whatever comfort she could.

"Be that as it may, Neshema..." Eyal began, in all seriousness. "If your brother doesn't get to a hospital, immediately..." Unable to say the words, the Mossad agent just left the thought hanging as the rest of the group all understood the unspoken truth. Phil needed medical help and he needed it, now.

"We don't have time to get him back to the states-to a Langley vetted medical center..." Annie conceded. "We'll have to find something local..."

"There's a highly rated hospital just about a mile from here..." Jemma offered, timidly, as she looked up from the tablet in her hand.

"That'll have to do." Annie nodded, tersely. "Eyal, I need you and Grant to move my brother into the vehicle. I'll drive."

"Are you sure we should be moving him?" Leo questioned, curiously. "He likely has at least some degree of internal bleeding-"

"Would you rather leave him here, on the street, to die?!" Annie snarled, looking up at the rocket scientist with an undeniably murderous look in her eyes. "Because, that is _exactly _what will happen if we **don't **move him!"

Nothing more needed to be said in that moment as Eyal and Grant set to work loading Phil into the SUV with Phil propped up against Eyal's chest and shoulder and lain across both Eyal and Grant's laps. Once the rest of the team had fit into the vehicle, Annie backed out of the alley, following the directions from Jemma's tablet to the hospital down the road.

* * *

As they all sat in the waiting room, anxiously awaiting news of their friend's condition, everyone was snapped out of their trances when the shrill ring of Annie's phone rang through the air. "Hello?" She greeted, her voice sounding tired and worn, even to her own ears.

"Annie?" Auggie asked, worriedly. "Are you okay? You don't sound like yourself?"

"I'm sitting in the waiting room of a French hospital desperately waiting to find out whether my brother lives or dies." Annie deadpanned, too tired to think of a witty response. "But, other than that, I'm just peachy..."

Sighing, Auggie knew Annie had to be at the end of her rope. He couldn't even begin to imagine what must be going through Annie's head at that moment. "Well, I honestly don't know if this makes things better or worse..." He began, hesitantly. "But, Skye found the hacker that shut us down..."

That revelation snapped Annie to attention. The rest of the group looked at her curiously, wondering what had triggered the sudden reaction in the CIA agent. "Really? Who was it?"

"Guy by the name of Miles Lydon." Auggie replied. Annie froze at the name. She knew that name from a particular mission that Phil had confided in her about. Well, at least as much as he _could _without divulging too much sensitive intel.

"I'm taking the tense silence to mean that you're familiar with the name." Auggie replied, sarcastically. "Am I correct?"

"I've heard the name once or twice." Annie conceded, darkly.

"Skye says he's her ex-boyfriend." Auggie replied, getting right back to business. "You think that has something to do with his hacking Langley?" He wondered, trying to get to the bottom of the situation.

Sighing lightly, Annie replied "I can't say for sure...But, it wouldn't surprise me, if it did." Pausing briefly, she added. "Call Arthur. Read him in. Have him talk to Lydon and see what-if anything-he can get out of him." She instructed. "In the meantime, I'll let you know when we hear anything about Phil."

Although he knew Annie didn't see it, Auggie nodded understandingly. "Just keep me posted." He replied, warmly.

* * *

Washington, DC

* * *

"Arthur Campbell." Arthur greeted, answering his phone.

"Arthur, it's Auggie." Auggie replied, cutting straight to the point. "I'm calling on behalf of Annie."

"That's right." Arthur replied, recalling what Annie had said about Langley being hacked. "Have you all made any progress regarding the hack?"

"Yeah, Skye's had us back up and running for awhile." Auggie replied. "She also just finished tracing the hack. Turns out a Miles Lydon was the culprit."

"Whaddo we know about him?" Arthur asked, getting right down to business.

"Well, we know he's a hacker for The Rising Tide." Auggie began, carefully. "And, as fate would have it...He's also Skye's ex-boyfriend..."

"Is that so?" Arthur asked, suspiciously.

"We were hoping you could talk to him and see what-if anything-you could get out of him." Auggie replied.

"I see." Arthur replied, the gears already turning in his head. "You think the hack could be related to his former relationship with Skye?"

"We're not sure." Auggie conceded.

"Could she have tipped him off about the mission?" Arthur questioned.

"Not likely." Auggie argued. "Skye, herself, knew next to nothing about it. All she knew was that Phil was working for us. Didn't know where he'd be going or what he'd be doing or when he'd be back..."

"That's a good point." Arthur conceded. "I'll talk to him. See what I can get from him."

"Thanks, Arthur." Auggie replied, gratefully.

* * *

Paris, France

* * *

"Madamoiselle Coulson?" A young doctor in green, surgical scrubs greeted the group as she emerged from the OR doors.

"Oui." Annie replied. "Je suis Annie Coulson." She added, extending her hand to the surgeon before her.

"Mon nom est Docteur Arielle Moreau ... Je suis le chirurgien de votre frère." The surgeon replied, accepting the proffered hand.

"Comment va-t-il?" Annie asked, worriedly. "Est Phil va bien se passer?" She added, nearly frantically.

"Votre frère est exceedinly chance." Dr. Moreau began. "La balle alla précisément l'angle droit de rater tous les organes vitaux." She explained. "Je dois avouer ... Qui administré les premiers soins sur les lieux doit avoir vraiment su ce qu'ils faisaient ..." The surgeon elaborated. "Mais, une heure ou deux et votre frère seraient morts avant même qu'il ait jamais fait sur la table d'opération."

"Mais, il va bien se passer?" Annie asked, trying to get straight to the point. "N'est-ce pas?"

"Oui." The surgeon replied, warmly. "Il peut ne pas avoir été un processus simple..." She conceded. "Nous lui avons perdu sur la table, à un moment donné … Mais, oui ..." She added, warmly. "Avec un peu de repos au lit, votre frère sera très bien …"

"Oh mon Dieu!" Annie replied, finally able to breathe again. "Oh, merci...Merci beaucoup...Je ne peux pas vous remercier assez!" She cried, tears of relief stealing from her eyes.

"Croyez-moi, madamoiselle Coulson ..." Dr. Moreau replied, smiling gently, as she took Annie's hands in her own. "Le regard dans les yeux et le privilège d'être en mesure de fournir cette merveilleuse nouvelles sont les seuls grâce dont j'ai besoin."

Nodding understandingly, Annie voiced the next question on her mind. "Quand pourrons-nous le voir?"

"Nous nous déplaçons à votre frère dans la récupération pendant environ une heure, pour laisser le temps d'anesthésie à s'estomper ..." Dr. Moreau began. "Maintenant, je dois vous avertir ..." She began, carefully, seeing the concern in Annie's eyes. "Votre frère sera toujours dans le coma, même lorsque l'anesthésie s'estompe ..." The surgeon warned, gently, preparing Annie for the sight that would await her when she visited her brother. "Je veux juste que vous être prêt pour cela."

"Je comprends, Docteur." Annie replied, still relieved to know that there was still a chance for Phil.

"Très bien ..." Dr. Moreau replied, smiling slightly. "Je vais avoir quelqu'un vienne vous obtenez lorsque nous avons votre frère s'installe dans sa chambre de soins intensifs." She added, shaking Annie's hand once more before returning to the OR as Annie made her way back to the rest of the group.

* * *

Washington DC

* * *

"You got a lock on Lydon's location." Auggie asked, curiously.

"Uh, yeah..." Skye replied, distractedly. She hadn't been able to get the news of Phil's shooting out of her head. "I, uh...I forwarded the location to Arthur's cell..."

Spinning Skye's chair around to face him, Auggie crouched so that he was-hopefully-eye level with her. "Give me your hand..." He instructed, gently, extending his own to the hacker.

Skye, for her part, studied the CIA agent's face, carefully, as she considered his orders. Finally deciding to trust the agent, she carefully placed her palm in his.

Smiling gently, Auggie used the hand which held Skye's to turn the hacker's hand upside down-so that the palm faced up-before he used his free hand to pull a paper from his shirt pocket. "Here..." He spoke with a soft and warm voice as he pressed the paper into the hacker's open palm.

"What is it?" Skye asked, curiously, retracting her hand to examine the paper Auggie had given her.

"It's a plane ticket to Paris." Auggie smiled, warmly. "Your flight leaves in half an hour."

"Wha-I...I don't..." Skye stammered, trying to understand what was happening. "I don't understand..."

"I know you've been worried about Phil ever since Annie left." Auggie elaborated. "I know there's nowhere you'd rather be than there, with him...So, I bought you that ticket..."

"Auggie..." Skye breathed, as her eyes widened in shocked realization. "This is a first class ticket..."

Smirking coyly, Auggie stood back up to his full height as he replied, cheekily "Think of it as a token of my appreciation...For getting us back up and running..."

Shifting her eyes back and forth between the ticket and the man that had presented her with it. Finally, she jumped out of her seat and threw her arms around Auggie's neck. "Thank you!" She breathed, still reeling from the generosity of Auggie's gesture.

* * *

Miles Lydon's Apartment

* * *

Arriving at the address that Skye had sent to him for Miles Lydon's apartment, Arthur braced himself for the impending interrogation he was about to lay down on the hacker as he knocked on the front door. "Yes?" Miles greeted, answering Arthur's knock.

"Mr. Lydon, my name is Arthur Campbell." Arthur stated, professionally. "I'd like to speak with you about your little stunt you pulled, earlier, today..." The look in his eyes told Lydon that Arthur knew all about his hacking the CIA and that Arthur wasn't going anywhere until he talked.

Sighing, Miles knew he wouldn't outsmart the man before him-at least, not right away. So, he wordlessly turned for Arthur to follow him into the apartment. Smirking to himself, Arthur took the unspoken invitation and entered the apartment, closing the door behind him.

As they entered the living room, Lydon flopped down on the sofa as he spoke, first. "So...Arthur Campbell...What, exactly is it you would like to know?" He asked, arrogantly.

Arthur couldn't believe the nerve of this man. He shut down an entire covert government agency-jeapordizing countless lives, including Phil Coulson's-and, he didn't have a care in the world. "I already know _how_..." He began, pacing menacingly in front of Lydon. "What I _wanna_ know...Is _why_?"

"'Why?'..." Miles repeated, tauntingly.

"Yes, why..." Arthur snarled. He wasn't interested in playing any childish games. He just wanted answers.

"Well, Mr. Campbell..." Miles continued to taunt Arthur and the little punk's attitude was tap-dancing all over his last nerve. "Might I ask what you'll do if I _don't _give you the answers you so desperately seek..."

"Let me make this _very..._clear to you, Mr. Lydon." Arthur replied, venomously. "You either tell me what your motive was in shutting down the _CIA_...And this all ends, right here, right now..." Arthur shrugged simply. "I won't look for you...I won't pursue you..." Pausing briefly, Arthur added the alternative. "But, if you _don't_..." As he continued speaking, Arthur's mouth produced a voice that even _he _didn't recognize as his own. "I've _already looked_ for you...And, I've _found_ you..." He added, getting right in Miles' face. "So, if you don't tell me what I wanna know..." Pausing for a just a moment, Arthur wrapped his around the hacker's throat. "Then, I _will_...kill you..." The veteran spy hissed, his own face mere inches away from the hacker's.

In that moment, Arthur's actions all confirmed everything he'd suspected about the hacker. All of his arrogance and self-confidence...It was all just bullshit bravado. Now, looking at the hacker on the sofa before him, Arthur took a sick amount of pleasure in the amount of panic written in the hacker's eyes. "Okay, fine, I'll tell you..." Miles cried, as his voice cracked and broke, desperate to do whatever it took to get Arthur to release his grip on his throat.

Smiling in sick satisfaction, Arthur released the hacker's throat and rose back to his full height. "That's more like it.." He sneered.

"Look, I heard something from a friend of mine that Phil Coulson was gonna be working for the CIA on a one-time operation..." Miles relented, beginning his story. "Ever since Hong Kong, I knew he had a thing for Skye...And, I also knew Skye had a thing for him..." Lydon admitted. "I figured, this would be my one shot at getting Coulson out of the picture so that I could get Skye back."

"You shut down an entire covert government agency-jeapordizing _countless_ innocent lives..." Arthur hissed, angrily. "All because you were _jealous_?! Because you didn't want your ex-girlfriend with anyone but you?" In a flash, Arthur was right back in Lydon's face. "Thanks to your ignorant jealousy, Phil Coulson is currently in a Parisian hospital fighting for his _life_..." The veteran spy hissed, venomously. "If he dies-Skye already knows _you _were the one behind the hack which cut him off from all the people that could have saved him..." Arthur taunted. "She'll know that _you_ were the one who had caused the death of the man that she loves...How exactly do you think that will bode for your plan to get back together with her?" Arthur sneered.

"Nobody was ever supposed to get hurt!" Lydon insisted, petulantly. "I swear it!"

"Save it!" Arthur spat. "The damage has already been done! I don't wanna hear any of your bullshit excuses." The older man hissed. "You just damn well better hope and pray that Phil survives his injuries...Otherwise, you haven't seen the last of me..." With his intentions hanging in the air, Arthur sealed his threat with a punch placed square in the hacker's jaw, knocking him off of the sofa and onto the floor. Satisfied with the interrogation, Arthur smiled smugly to himself as he took his swift and silent exit.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
**I know I'm a horrible person for leaving this, here. I just felt like continuing on, it would turn into a run-on, so, I'm cutting it, here. I'll start on the next chapter, tomorrow. Hopefully, I can get it posted fairly quickly...


	6. If I Didn't Have You

**Can You Save Me**

**Disclaimer:  
**Y'all know the drill...

**Rating:  
**T

**Genre:  
**Romance/Drama

**Pairing:  
**Coulsye  
(With subtle Eyal/Annie undertones)

**Lyrics Used:  
**Thompson Square "If I Didn't Have You"

* * *

This Life Would Kill Me If I Didn't Have You

* * *

_You are my heart, you're every breath I breathe | I'm safe in your arms, you rescue me | When I'm weak, you're strong | If you were gone, I don't know where I'd be | You were made for me | (You were made for me)_

_This life would kill me if I didn't have you | I couldn't live without you, baby | I wouldn't want to | If you didn't love me so much | I'd never make it through | 'Cause this life would kill me | This life would kill me if I didn't have you_

* * *

Paris, France

* * *

"Well, what did the doctor say?!" Jemma Simmons asked anxiously, leaping to her feet as Annie returned to the group after speaking with her brother's surgeon.

"Yeah, is Coulson gonna be okay?" Grant Ward added with an uncharacteristically worried tone to his voice.

Sighing heavily as she felt all of the anxiety and tension of the day bleed from her body, Annie smiled as she reported the doctors' findings back to the group. "My brother's going to be just fine." The younger Coulson could barely contain her grin as the rest of the group hugged each other and exchanged relieved glances at the news. "The bullet entered his chest at just the right angle to miss all the vital organs. He was extremely lucky, though, that Eyal was there. If it hadn't been for his life-saving first-aid techniques, Phil never would have made it to the operating table." She elaborated, flashing Eyal a grateful smile.

"When can we see him?" Annie and the rest of the group all turned to see an anxious Skye standing at the entrance to the waiting room.

As a stunned silence filled the room, Annie crossed the waiting room and enveloped Skye in a warm hug. "Glad you could be here, Skye." She whispered in the young hacker's ear as Skye wrapped her own arms around Annie, relieved that this whole mess would soon be over. Finally releasing the hacktivist, Annie guided her over to the rest of the group as she proceeded to answer her question. "To answer your question, the doctors are moving him to the Recovery Ward for about an hour until the anesthesia wears off." Drawing a deep breath for courage, Annie knew she would have to include the surgeon's warning. "But, you all should know...Dr. Moreau said that Phil will still be in a coma-even _after _the anesthesia wears off."

"But, he _will _wake up, at some point?" Skye asked, worriedly. "Right?"

"Of course he will." Annie smiled, gently squeezing the arm that was still wrapped around the hacker's shoulders. "We just have to be patient and stay positive."

* * *

_An hour and a half later_

* * *

"Here you are, Neshema..." Eyal replied, passing Annie a small paper cup of coffee.

Smiling softly, she accepted the proffered coffee. "Thanks." She replied, quietly, watching the scene through the hospital window before her. The window peered into her brother's ICU room.

"You know..." Eyal began, cheekily. "It wasn't easy keeping your brother awake and talking until you arrived with his team."

"Mmm..." Annie hummed, thoughtfully, as she sipped on her coffee. "Don't take it, personally..." She added with a sly smile. "Not many people _can _get my brother to talk..." After another sip of her coffee, the younger Coulson asked, curiously "So, what, _exactly_, did you and my brother talk about in that alley?"

"Oh, you know the usual..." Eyal shrugged, casually, sipping on his own coffee. "His return from the dead..._your _return from the dead...the weather..." With another sip of his coffee, the Mossad operative added "And, my plans for a major career change."

Annie very nearly spat her coffee all over the clear hospital window at the news of Eyal changing careers. "R-really?!" She choked, wiping away a few stray streaks of coffee that had stolen down either end of her mouth. "This have anything to do with Avi?" She asked, genuine curiosity in her eyes and in her voice.

"No." Eyal replied, somewhat curtly, glancing down at his coffee. "No, although his mother and I _have_ worked out a visitation arrangement." He offered, smiling slightly at the thought of finally garnering the visitation he'd so desperately wanted with his son. "He'll live with her the majority of the time while summering with me, in the states, and we'll also alternate major holidays and birthdays."

Annie's eyes were nearly as wide as saucers when she heard the words 'in the states'. "You're _leaving _Israel?!" She demanded as she stared at him, wide-eyed. After everything she'd done and seen as a spy, Annie never thought anything could truly surprise her, anymore. Well, evidently, she couldn't have been more wrong about that.

"Well, Director Fury wasn't crazy about the idea of one of his operatives living half-way across the world." Eyal replied, his eyes glinting playfully as Annie's jaw figuratively bounced off the floor.

"You..." The younger Coulson began, setting her coffee down on the window sill and gesturing/speaking with her hands. "...Eyal Levin...Are leaving Mossad to go work for _S.H.I.E.L.D._?!" She questioned, wildly, desperately trying to wrap her mind around what she had just been told. "I thought you liked all the liberties and latitude Mossad offered?" She added, with the same playful glint in her eyes that had just occupied Eyal's own, moments ago.

"Yes, well..." Eyal shrugged, casually, before pressing onward. "Be that as it may...There is _one _thing that S.H.I.E.L.D. can offer me that Mossad can't." There was a look in Eyal's eyes that Annie couldn't quite place. It was a look that left Annie breathless.

"A-and..." The CIA operative stammered and stuttered, nervously, as she attempted to decipher the look in her friend's eyes. Clearing her throat, she asked "What-what might that be?"

Without another word, Eyal stepped in closer to Annie as she remained frozen in place. Taking one of her hands in his, Eyal used the other to gently stroke Annie's cheek as he whispered his response. "You."

Annie had been just about to close the less than one inch gap between her face and Eyal's before she suddenly felt eyes on them. Shaking herself out of her Eyal-Levin-induced trance, Annie stepped back and turned to face Ward, May, Fitz, and Simmons all watching the exchange with amused expressions. "Well, don't stop on our account..." Ward chastised, playfully.

"Heavens no..." Jemma added, scarcely able to contain herself as her voice cracked, excitedly. "You're both just so adorable...We'd hate to interrupt..." She added.

Annie couldn't help grinning at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents before she turned to face Eyal with a playful glare. "You're a dead man!" She threatened, playfully. "You do know that, right?"

"What?" Eyal asked with feigned shock and indignation. "You think I actually set this up?"

"No, I think you just got caught with your hand in the cookie jar." Annie smiled before Melinda finally spoke.

"We'll give the two of you a moment..." Even the stoic pilot had the smallest smirk playing across her face.

"Thank you, Agent May." Annie replied, gratefully, as the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team smiled and politely took their leave, leaving Eyal and Annie alone, once more. Annie's smile faltered ever so slightly as she voiced her one remaining question. "So...That's it, then?...You're just gonna...Uproot your entire life-move half way across the world...Transfer to a completely different agency...All just so you could be with me?"

"No..." Eyal replied, smirking, as he caressed Annie's cheek, lightly. "That was just a very well-appreciated bonus..." And, finally-_finally_-he closed the gap between them to capture Annie's lips in a soft and tender kiss. It was chaste-just enough to seal all of the promises left un-spoken.

After they broke the kiss, Annie grinned wickedly as she reminded Eyal of one small, minor, detail. "You do realize that-when my brother gets back on his feet-he's going to shift into over-protective older brother overdrive mode."

"I do." Eyal conceded, playfully. "But, you of all people, know how charming I can be." He winked, cheekily. "I'll find a way to win him over. I always do." The two agents shared a much needed laugh before the severity of the situation settled back over the pair of them. As they both turned to face the ICU window, Eyal broke the heavy silence. "So, Neshema..." He began. "Tell me...Who is that lovely young woman in there, with your brother?"

Picking up her forgotten coffee, Annie took a sip before she replied "Her name's Skye. She works for my brother. She's a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative in training." Smiling fondly at the memories of all the things her brother had told her along with all of the things she had observed about the young hacker, for herself, she added. "And, she's absolutely crazy about my brother..."

Quirking his eyebrows in mild surprise, Eyal asked "You mean...?"

"Oh yeah!" Annie grinned, interrupting the Mossad-turned-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "She's head-over-heels in love with Phil."

"And, how do you think your brother feels for her?" Eyal asked, curiously, as he and Annie continued to watch Skye visiting with Phil.

"He's just as crazy about her." Annie replied, smiling, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Should have seen the exchange between them when he left for this op..." The younger Coulson grinned wickedly from behind her coffee. "I thought-for _sure_-he was gonna kiss her. I even left the room to 'give them a moment'."

* * *

"You know you can talk to him, if you want." Annie offered, entering her brother's ICU room and standing next to the reclining chair occupied by the hacktivist. "Thought you could use this..." She added, extending a white paper cup with a green logo printed on it to the hacker.

"Thanks..." Skye replied, meekly, accepting the proffered cup. "Starbucks, huh?" She asked, trying to sound playful but only just managing pathetic.

"Yeah, well...Desperate times call for drastic coffees." Annie shrugged. "Or, pumpkin-spice lattes, in your case."

"How'd you know that was my favorite drink?" Skye wondered in utter amazement.

"I didn't..." Annie shrugged, taking another sip of her own coffee. "I knew it was _my _favorite and that it always makes me feel better whenever I'm upset..." Another sip of her own latte. "I took a shot."

"Well, thanks..." Skye replied, quietly, as she managed a small smile. As a brief silence fell over the room, Skye finally couldn't fight the need to voice her question any longer. "You...You said I could...talk...to him..." She stated, slowly, searching for the right words. "Do you...Do you really think..." Part of her wasn't sure she really wanted an answer to her question, after all.

After waiting a few seconds for Skye to complete her thought, Annie gently prodded "Do I really think what, sweetie?" She asked, lightly gripping the hacker's free hand in her own.

Sighing heavily, Skye decided-whether she _wanted _to know or not...She _needed _to know. "Do you really think he can hear me?"

Squeezing the hand held lightly in her own, briefly, Annie smiled as she spoke. "I do." Releasing Skye's hand, she added "And, there _are _numerous scientific studies to back me up..." She added in a playfully cocky tone before sobering up. "Besides...You look like you got a lot you need to get off your chest...Now's your chance..."

"What if..." Skye began, nervously. "What if I _do _get everything off my chest...And, he _does _hear me...But..." Looking down at the coffee in her hands, Skye spoke in an uncharacteristically vulnerable tone "But, what if he doesn't feel the same way?" Annie understood the hacker's position. This was an unusually delicate situation and, she had a lot to lose. "I risk losing the only person who's ever truly given a damn about me, my whole life. I mean, Phil was the first person I'd ever met that actually put any real value in me...I can't jeopardize that..."

"Love is _always_ a gamble, sweetheart..." Annie replied, gazing down at Skye, fondly. "But, at some point, you either gotta roll the dice or lose your turn." Skye nodded, understandingly at that sentiment. She knew Annie was right. "My brother's a good and decent man. And, not..._entirely _unattractive..." She added, playfully. "...If you don't make your move, at some point, some other woman will come along and realize what a catch Phil is. And, she may not be so afraid to make her move..." Annie reasoned. "And, unless you give him a reason to say 'no'...He might just take her up on it..."

"Whaddo you mean?" Skye asked, curiously. "How would I give him a reason to say 'no'?"

Sighing lightly, Annie found herself caught in a moral dilemma. She knew it wasn't her place to tell Skye how her brother felt about her. But, she also didn't want Phil and Skye to miss their chance. Finally deciding to throw caution to the wind, Annie elaborated "Phil's crazy about you." The younger Coulson couldn't resist smiling at the hacker's wide doe eyes. "He fell in love with you the day he and Ward kidnapped you from your van. My brother's just never been any good at making the first move. Especially when he feels as strongly about someone as he does about you."

"You really think he feels the same way?" Skye asked, a vulnerable, hopeful, tone to her voice.

"No." Annie immediately regretted her joke when she saw the way Skye's face crumbled at the single word. The hacker turned away as if she'd been slapped. Pulling up a plastic chair next to her, Annie lightly gripped the hacker's chin between her thumb and forefinger, gently forcing her to look her in the eye. "I don't **have** to think...I _know _it." She amended with a warm smile. "I _know _my brother is unconditionally, and _irrevocably _in love with you."

"Thank you, Annie." Skye replied, sincerely. Knowing that Phil reciprocated her feelings for him gave her just enough courage to admit her own feelings to him.

"It's what I do..." Annie replied, smiling, as she rose from her seat and returned the chair to the corner of the room. "Anyway, I'll give you some privacy...You probably don't need an audience..." Without waiting for a response, Annie made a swift exit, leaving the hacktivist and the veteran spy alone, once more.

Sighing lightly, Skye racked her brain for just the right words to convey everything she wanted to tell the senior agent. Suddenly one of her favorite songs came to her mind. It was a song that perfectly described the romantic relationship Skye had always wanted ever since she was old enough to even know what a romantic relationship was. The song had helped her to see that it could be okay to need someone-to rely on them. It was an ideal that had been cemented into place when she met Phil. And, she couldn't deny the relevance of the lyrics to her current situation. Before she even realized it was happening, she caught herself humming the melody as the words seemed to flow from her mouth.

"Sometimes, it feels like I'm gonna break | Sometimes this world gives more than I can take | Sometimes, sunshine gets lost in the rain | And, it keeps pouring down | It just keeps pouring down"

The first verse reminded Skye of the situation she had currently found herself in. As well as the life of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in general. Sometimes, either a mission or the lack of time to dedicate to her search for her parents had her at her breaking point. But, knowing that she had Phil there to help her through it was her one ray of sunlight in even the darkest storm. As she hummed the musical interlude to the chorus, she recalled all the times Phil had been there for her.

"This life would kill me if I didn't have you | I couldn't live without you, baby | I wouldn't want to | If you didn't love me so much | I'd never make it through | 'Cause this life would kill me | This life would kill me if I didn't have you"

It was true. If Phil hadn't offered her a permanent position on his team after their first mission, together, God only knew where Skye would have ended up. What kind of trouble she could get herself into if she didn't have someone like Phil to guide her in the right direction.

"You are my heart, every breath I breathe | I'm safe, in your arms, you rescue me | When I'm weak, you're strong |If you were gone, I don't know where I'd be | You were made for me | You were made for me "

Once again, Skye couldn't deny that the lyrics she was singing perfectly described how she felt about Phil. He had become an integral part of her before she'd even realized it. He was there in everything that she did-everything that she wanted to be. If she lost him, now, she didn't even want to _think_ about what might become of her.

"This life would kill me if I didn't have you | Couldn't live without you, baby | I wouldn't want to | If you didn't love me so much | I'd never make it through | 'Cause this life would kill me | This life would kill me if I didn't have you"

Looking back on her time with Phil and with the team, Skye knew that these words rang true from the very beginning. Even when she hadn't known that Phil was in love with her, she knew that he had cared for her on some level. He had to to fight for her and stick up for her all the times that he had. He had defended her in times that she had known, deep down, that he'd had no obligation to. He'd had so many opportunities to kick her off the team, throw her back out on the streets. But, he never did. He had always chosen to keep her on, give her another chance. Now, she fully understood why.

"If you didn't love me so much | If you didn't love me so much

This life would kill me if I didn't have you | This life would kill me

Couldn't live without you, baby | I wouldn't want to | If you didn't love me so much | I'd never make it through | 'Cause this life would kill me | This life would kill me if I didn't have you"

By the time she'd finished her song, Skye was mentally, emotionally, and physically spent. After finishing her drink, she tossed it into the small wastebasket by Phil's bedside. Standing from her seat, she leaned over Phil's unconscious form, gently caressing his face. She couldn't help noticing how peaceful his face looked as he slept. Perhaps it was her own wishful thinking, but, she liked to think she could see the ghost of a smile tugging at his lips. Finally, she decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. _After all, I'm already through the looking glass, anyway...Might as _well _go for it..._She told herself as she leaned down to press a small chaste kiss to the corner of Phil's mouth before she returned to her seat and lightly gripped his hand in hers. Yawning, she decided to just rest her eyes for a moment as she rested her forehead against the bed rail. _I'm just gonna rest, here, for a minute, before I leave for the night..._She told herself as her eyes slipped closed and she had drifted off to sleep before she'd even realized it.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
**So, I hope this had enough Coulsye in it for those of you who were waiting for it. Next chapter, Phil wakes up-I swear-and reacts to Skye's declaration! :D So, I hope you'll all tune in for that.

Also, I'm issuing a reward for the first five reviewers on this chapter. The first five people to review this story will get a sneak peek at a new Coulsye story I'm working on (something I've thrown onto the back burner until I get this and/or "Sometimes, It's Easier to Lie" wrapped up).


	7. You're Always Here With Me

**Can You Save Me**

**Disclaimer:  
**As always, I own nothing...except Dr. Arielle Moreau.

**Rating:  
**T

**Genre:  
**Romance/Hurt/Comfort

**Pairing:  
**Coulsye  
Eyannie (Eyal Levin/Annie Coulson)

**Lyrics Used:  
**Ashley Tisdale "You're Always Here"

**Author's Note:  
**Once again, I used Google Translate for the French. So, I apologize if the French sucks.

* * *

You're Always Here With Me

* * *

_Pull myself together | I know it's for the better | Now | It's my turn | It's my turn to carry this weight | Nothing is forever | You can't predict the weather | Now | You'll be there to help me carry this weight_

_They say that love won't die | And, then, I realize | What will be will be | You're always here with me | And, in the darkest night | I feel you by my side | What will be will be | Always here with me_

* * *

"Vous savez ... Il semble répondre plutôt positive quand vous chantez pour lui ..." The nurse greeted warmly, when she walked into Phil's ICU room to check on his condition and found the young hacktivist who had refused to leave his side from the moment she'd arrived. It had been a week, now, and she still hadn't left for more than a moment or two to use the restroom. The entire hospital staff had taken notice of this and couldn't help but think what a lucky man Phil Coulson had to be to have someone so dedicated to him in his life.

"I-I'm-I'm sorry..." Skye stuttered, apologetically. "I don't-I don't speak French." _Though, if Phil doesn't wake up, soon, I may have to learn..._She thought to herself, dreadfully. Truth be told, she **really **didn't want to think about what might happen if Phil never woke up.

"It's quite all right." The nurse replied, still smiling warmly, as she set to work checking on all of Phil's vital signs and other indicators of his condition. "I simply said that Monsieur Coulson seems to respond rather positively whenever you sing to him."

"You-uh...You heard that, huh?" Skye asked, shyly. She thought she'd been alone with Phil all the times she'd sang to him. It was always something she had thought to be private between the two of them. Every day for the past week, whenever she thought they were alone, she would sing whatever song came to her mind. She'd had no idea she'd had an audience.

"Oh, yes." The nurse replied, kindly. "You have a beautiful voice, by the way..." She added, sensing Skye's self-consciousness about her singing prowess. "And, I've checked his vitals immediately after most of your songs. They've always been improved. Your singing seems to be helping him. Every day, he gets a little stronger because of you."

"Really?" Skye asked. She had always sort of believed that her presence had been helping Phil to some degree. But, now, this nurse had just confirmed it. She couldn't help smiling to herself, slightly. "You really think he can hear me?" She asked, nervously.

"There is not a doubt in my mind." The nurse smiled as she finished her check up. "If you need anything else, please feel free to call me." She added, warmly.

"Thank you." Skye replied, grateful to hear someone else justifying everything she'd been trying to do for her friend and mentor...and, the man that had unknowingly stolen her heart. Glancing back down to Phil's unconscious form, she absently caressed his forehead and cheeks with her thumb. As she did so, another melody came to her as she started humming to herself. It was another song that spoke to the current situation and, after what the nurse had said, Skye decided to go for it and keep singing to Phil.

"I looked to the sky, last night | And, my eyes caught the light of a star | Burning like the memories of brighter days | And, I know this life is all mine | Just a moment in time | But, every day's a new beginning. So

Pull yourself together | You know it's for the better | Now | It's our turn | It's our turn to carry this weight | Nothing is forever | You can't predict the weather | Now | I'll help you carry this weight"

Looking down into Phil's unconscious face, Skye knew there was no denying the slightest ghost of a smile playing across the slumbering man's peaceful countenance. Seeing that made Skye smile, as well, allowing herself to believe that she had played a part of that smile. _Maybe that nurse was right, after all..._Skye thought to herself as she continued humming the melody of the song she was singing. _Maybe this really __**is **__helping Phil..._She thought to herself as she couldn't help but notice that the next verse spoke to that very belief.

"They say that love won't die | And, then, I realize | What will be will be | You're always here with me | And, in the darkest night | I feel you by my side | What will be will be | Always here with me

Meet me in my dreams | And, you can help me believe | Tell me there are gonna be better days | To see your face and I feel your embrace | I swear I'll never forget what you gave so, I"

As she sang her song, Skye recalled the moment she'd first held Phil in her arms. It was just after he'd first told her what he'd found in the un-redacted version of the form she'd found about her admission to St. Agnes. She remembered how he'd frozen, at first. But, she also remembered distinctly feeling him relax-and, almost _melt_-into it. At first, she couldn't help wondering if she'd just imagined that. But, after everything that had happened-the nurse telling her that he seemed to respond so positively to her singing to him-and, seeing the ghost of a smile on his face, for herself...She couldn't help hoping that maybe-just **maybe**-she _hadn't_ imagined it, after all.

"Pull myself together | I know it's for the better | Now | It's my turn | It's my turn to carry this weight | Nothing is forever | You can't predict the weather | Now | You'll be there to help me carry this weight"

As she progressed in her song, Skye couldn't help convincing herself that Phil **would **be okay. He just _had _to be. She _needed _him to be. And, he'd always been there whenever she'd needed him, before. Why wouldn't he be there, now?

"They say that love won't die | And, then, I realize | What will be will be | You're always here with me | And, in the darkest night | I feel you by my side | What will be will be | Always here with me

And, if the day goes by | You start to question why | Tell me why | There is a way to hold on | You just gotta stay strong | Close your eyes and you will find | Love lives on inside"

Skye couldn't help noticing how true those lyrics really were. No matter where she was or what she was doing...Skye could always feel Phil inside of her. She could even feel him inside her after he'd left for the op that had left him in this condition, to begin with.

"They say that love won't die | And, then, I realize | What will be will be | You're always here with me | And, in the darkest night | I feel you by my side | What will be will be | Always here with me

What will be will be | You're always here with me

What will be will be | You're always here with me"

As she finished her song, Skye began to feel her sleepless nights catching up to her as she lay her head down to rest against the arm she'd laid along the bed rail of Phil's bedside. As the exhaustion washed over her, the young hacker had completely forgotten the hand that was still entwined with her dear friend's as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"_I looked to the sky, last night | And, my eyes caught the light of a star | Burning like the memories of brighter days | And, I know this life is all mine | Just a moment in time | But, every day's a new beginning. So_

_Pull yourself together | You know it's for the better | Now | It's our turn | It's our turn to carry this weight | Nothing is forever | You can't predict the weather | Now | I'll help you carry this weight"_

Once again, Phil heard the voice of same siren that had been singing to him ever since he'd been shot, singing to him once more. He never saw her face, but, she had a beautiful voice, he'd decided. It sounded just like Skye singing to him. In his world of unconsciousness, he allowed himself to believe that it _was _Skye singing to him. That thought made him smile. Any thoughts of the young hacktivist _always _made him smile.

Although he could never admit it to anyone-**especially **Skye-he had fallen hopelessly in love with her the moment he'd first laid eyes on her. She was so pure and innocent, with such a kind and loving heart. He had been drawn to her like a moth to a flame. He had never felt any desire to pursue a romantic relationship with anyone, after the way things had ended with the cellist. In his line of work, he just assumed that his job would always cause him to lose the ones he cared most about. New York proved that. Not only had he lost his cellist, but, he'd lost his closest friends, as well-including his childhood hero. But, now that he had found a love _in _his line of work, he couldn't help wondering if it would be worth it to try again.

"_They say that love won't die | And, then, I realize | What will be will be | You're always here with me | And, in the darkest night | I feel you by my side | What will be will be | Always here with me_

_Meet me in my dreams | And, you can help me believe | Tell me there are gonna be better days | To see your face and I feel your embrace | I swear I'll never forget what you gave so, I"_

As he continued listening to the beautiful song in his dreams, his mind lingered on the beautiful hacker. Her smile, alone, could have carried him through his mission in Paris. His desire to see her, again, drove him to keep fighting to break free from unconsciousness. Hearing this sad, beautiful, song fueled that fire. Somehow, it seemed to reach into deepest depths of his soul and pushed him even harder. Listening to this song, all he wanted to do was hold Skye in his arms and tell her he was okay. Of course, the irony of the situation was not lost on him. _Looks like Skye was right, all along..._Initially, he had chalked her concerns up to paranoia. But, now, he couldn't deny that she had been **right **to be worried. Truthfully, he appreciated her concern. At least he knew she cared for him on **some **level.

"_Pull myself together | I know it's for the better | Now | It's my turn | It's my turn to carry this weight | Nothing is forever | You can't predict the weather | Now | You'll be there to help me carry this weight"_

As he listened to that, particular, verse, Phil couldn't help thinking about his attempts to help Skye in her search for her parents. Those thoughts lead to the memory of the first time he'd held the young hacker in his arms. He'd been so caught off guard when she threw her arms around him that he'd immediately frozen at the intimate contact. He'd never expected such a display from the hacktivist. But, once his mind processed what was happening, Phil all but melted into the embrace.

"_They say that love won't die | And, then, I realize | What will be will be | You're always here with me | And, in the darkest night | I feel you by my side | What will be will be | Always here with me_

_And, if the day goes by | You start to question why | Tell me why | There is a way to hold on | You just gotta stay strong | Close your eyes and you will find | Love lives on inside"_

As the siren continued to sing her song, Phil finally registered the sensation of fingers entwined with his own. Once he'd registered the sensation, he felt a strange warmth wash over him. The feeling of it all seemed to-not only put him at peace, making him feel truly safe for the first time in a **long **time-but, also made him want to wake up, even more. If, for no other reason, just to see who had been the source of that warmth.

"_They say that love won't die | And, then, I realize | What will be will be | You're always here with me | And, in the darkest night | I feel you by my side | What will be will be | Always here with me_

_What will be will be | You're always here with me_

_What will be will be | You're always here with me"_

He'd tried numerous times to wake up, before, all to no avail. But, as the song drew to a close, Phil felt compelled to try again. He was _going _to succeed, no matter **how **many tries it took. Once the song had finished, the senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent summoned every last ounce of strength he had left and focused on the sole task of **just waking **_**up**_. Finally, after countless failed attempts, it felt as though the cinder blocks had been lifted from his eyelids as the piercing white lights seared into his unprepared eyes. _This is a __**good **__thing..._He reminded himself. Blinding white lights meant that he was-indeed-awake. Blinking against the lights, he patiently waited for his eyes to adjust.

After what Phil would have sworn was hours, but, was likely only minutes-possibly seconds, even-the room around him came into focus. _Hospital room..._He thought to himself. Well, that was to be expected after taking a bullet to the chest at the hands of a madman falling from a Parisian rooftop. Taking in the entire room, Phil immediately halted when his gaze landed on the sleeping form of Skye. He couldn't believe the young hacker had fallen asleep at his bedside. _How long has she been here? _Phil wondered, idly. If she'd fallen asleep, here, that had to mean she must have been there for quite some time. _How long have __**I **__been here, for that matter? _That was an equally good question. He'd lost all track of time when he'd passed out in the alley way. He couldn't honestly tell you _when _that had happened. Lost in thought, Phil hadn't even realized that it was Skye's hand entwined with his own until he absently squeezed it. Suddenly, time seemed to stand still as the sleeping form next to him startled awake. _Oh God..._ Phil thought to himself, in a slight panic as he frantically wondered how Skye would react to their entwined hands. Did she take his hand, first? Did she even _know _their hands had been entwined? A million questions raced through the senior agent's head at once as he held his breath waiting for Skye to speak.

"Oh my God!" Skye breathed, smiling wildly in pleasant shock as she realized that Phil was finally awake. "You're awake!" At that comment, Skye suddenly became much more aware of their entwined hands as she nervously retracted hers. "I-I'm-I'm sorry..." She stuttered, awkwardly. "I don't-I don't know what I was thinking. I-"

"Skye." Phil tried to ease the hacker's worries only to find his voice hoarse from disuse. After coughing a few times to clear his throat, Phil finally felt his voice return to normal as he spoke again. "Skye, it's quite all right, I assure you..."

"Oh." Skye replied, suddenly nervous and at a complete loss for words. "Okay." She smiled, anxiously as a nervous silence stretched between them. "I, um..." She began, desperately searching for a way to break the awkward tension between the two of them. "I should probably go and get the others. They'll probably wanna know you're awake-"

Skye had risen from her seat to make her way to the door when she froze in her tracks as Phil gripped her hand in his. The small action, alone, warranted her full attention as she turned to face the man in the bed before her. "Think you could just...hold off on that...Just for a bit?"

Staring into Phil's eyes, Skye desperately tried to figure out where he was going with this. The request, alone, was strange enough. But, there was something different about his voice, as well. He seemed...nervous? That wasn't right. Phil Coulson never got nervous. Yet, somehow, there was a nervous, pleading, expression in his baby blue eyes as he still clung to Skye's hand. That look sealed the deal as Skye just nodded numbly-her mind still working in overdrive to try to figure the man out-as she sat back down in her seat. She watched as Phil visibly heaved a sigh of relief as she did so. "Thank you." He managed, weakly, before clearing his throat nervously.

Absently stroking the back of his hand with her thumb, Skye asked, worriedly "Is everything okay? You don't seem right..."

"Yes, of course." Phil replied, trying to play off his nervous energy. Finally, he decided it would be best to just go for it and voice the questions on his mind. After all, even if he didn't like the answers...They had to be better than driving himself absolutely **insane** wondering...Didn't they? "I just um...I just wanted to talk to you...About...About some...Dreams...That I had while I was...Well, while I was out..." He explained, nervously.

"Oh..." Skye replied, surprised by the request. "Okay, um...What...What dreams, exactly?" She asked, curiously.

"Well.." Phil began, sighing nervously. "For starters...There was this one _recurring _dream that I had." He started, hesitantly, searching for the right words. "Where...Where this...woman was...Was singing to me." He finished, suddenly feeling more self-conscious than he could ever imagine was possible. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as he shifted his gaze, downward, away from Skye.

In that moment, Skye knew she'd been caught. She knew Phil had heard her singing to him. What she didn't know, however, was how he'd felt about it. Looking at him, now, Skye noticed him acting almost...shy? She couldn't stand it, any more... She had to tell him the truth. "You heard that?" She asked, just to clarify.

She couldn't resist the small smile playing across her face when she saw Phil's head snap back up to look her straight in the eye as his jaw dropped in shock. "That was _you_?!" He breathed in shock. Deep down, Phil had **hoped **it was Skye that had been singing to him.

"Yeah..." Skye replied, fondly, unable to contain her warm smile which had now spread into a nervous smile on Phil's face. "Yeah, it was." In that moment, Skye realized that Phil _still _had yet to release her hand.

"Those songs..." Phil began, searching for the right words to convey what he wanted to say to the beautiful young woman before him. "They were beautiful." He breathed, still awestruck by Skye's admission.

"Thanks." Skye replied, shyly.

"Where did they come from?" Phil wondered, idly.

"I...I don't know, really." The hacktivist replied, honestly, shrugging lightly. "They were just...Kind of...Songs that came to mind and reminded me of how I felt in that moment. Mostly of how I felt about you."

Phil Coulson was not a man to let himself get his hopes up. But, the combination of the songs that Skye had been singing to him and her most recent confessions were making it next to impossible not to let himself hope that she could possibly return his feelings for her. "Do you really...Do you really feel that way?" In the moments that followed, Phil was certain that his heart would beat right out of his chest as he waited anxiously for Skye to answer his question.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Skye breathed the single most beautiful word in the entire English language. "Yes." Most people would have stalled by asking exactly what Phil had meant. But, deep down, Skye supposed she had known all along. _Hell, I'm already through the looking glass, any way...Might as well put this whole mess to bed, once and for all...Find out __**exactly **__where I stand with him..._She told herself as she steeled herself for whatever response came to her next statement. "I don't know how or when it happened...I can't exactly say it was love at first sight-Ya know after the whole thing where you and Ward kidnapped me out of my van-"

"Recruited." Phil interjected, smiling fondly at the memory.

"You put a bag over my head!" Skye argued, with a playful glare, betrayed by the smile playing across her lips. "I don't know about you, Phil. But, where I come from, we call that kidnapping." An anxious, awkward silence fell over the pair, yet again, before Skye found her voice again. "But, um...Well, as I got to know you...I started liking you more and more, and then...I don't know...One day it just...Hit me. Outta nowhere. I was just..._in love _with you..." _Well, there it is...Cat's outta the bag, now..._Skye told herself as she waited on bated breath for Phil to respond to her confession.

For a moment, Phil couldn't speak-hell, he was still working on _breathing_. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. _Skye's in love with me? _He thought to himself in pure wonder. Phil had never even dared to dream that a day like this could ever even be **possible**. Let alone that it would come to fruition. "You love me?" He breathed, finally, unable to form a coherent response.

Of all the possible reactions Skye had imagined while waiting for Phil to speak, that had most assuredly **not **been one of them. She wasn't even **close **to being prepared for that response. "Yes." She replied, her voice scarcely above a whisper. The tension was killing her. She had laid her heart and soul right there on the metaphorical table for Phil and still had no clue where the senior agent stood.

"I don't believe it..." Phil whispered-more to himself, than anything else. Skye quirked an eyebrow, curiously at the statement. "All this time..."

"What do you mean?" Skye asked, finally unable to remain silent, any longer. She really wished Phil would just get to the point, already.

"Well..." Phil began, drawing in a deep breath for courage. "For me, it actually _was _love at first sight." He elaborated, as Skye's world stood still. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. The man that had unknowingly stolen her heart loved her, too. "The moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew. I don't know **how **I knew...I just knew I was in love with you. And those feelings just got stronger the more I got to know you..."

"You..." Skye whispered, unable to breathe from shock. "You...love me?" She asked, carefully, terrified that if she said ti too loud than it would all disappear.

"More than anything." Phil added, smiling, as he squeezed Skye's hand, gently. For a moment, they just stared into each other's eyes until Skye snapped out of her trance and rose to her feet, carefully leaning over the bed to close the gap between the two of them with a gentle, chaste kiss-just enough to confirm everything they had just confessed to one another.

_My God..._ Phil thought to himself as his eyes slipped closed as the sensation of Skye's lips on his washed over him. _Skye's kissing me..._ He added, suddenly feeling like a lovesick teenager all over again. Every nerve ending in his entire body was on fire until Skye pulled away. And, he most certainly did **not **whimper at the loss of warmth. Even if Skye **did **smirk mischievously at the sound.

* * *

Meanwhile, the pair remained blissfully unaware of the approving stares from just outside Phil's ICU window. "They really are adorable." Jemma observed, watching her dear friends finally realizing their mutual feelings toward one another.

"It's about damn time." Grant grunted, playfully, the smile on his face betraying his rough and gruff tone.

"Amen to that." Leo added, smiling as he watched the same exchange his friends were watching. "I don't know about the rest of you...But, Agent Coulson's been driving me positively **mad **pining over Skye for as long as I can remember."

"No arguments, here." Annie chimed in, sipping her Starbucks coffee. "Trust me, I get the unabridged, unedited, unrated director's cut. What you all get ain't got shit on what I have to listen to..." She smiled, warmly, against the tone of her comment, as she watched her brother finally acting on his feelings for the young hacker-turned-S.H.I.E.L.D.-agent-in-training. "I swear, whenever I talk to Phil he sounds like a friggin' lovesick teenager trying to impress the popular girl!"

"I'm just glad they both finally realized what's been staring the rest of us in the face since day one." Melinda interjected, cheekily, as as playful grin cracked through her usually stoic facade. "And, that they're both finally happy."

The rest of the group just nodded and hummed in agreement as they watched their friends continue talking about...Well, none of them really cared what they were talking about. The two of them were together and happy and that was all any of them truly cared about.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
**Dear **_GOD_** that was sappy. What the hell's happened to me? Oh well. I hope you all enjoy this little crack!piece I wrote after working an **_insanely _**busy shift on virtually **no **sleep-ah, the joys of working at Target during the Holiday Season...Anyway, I just started writing and I just kinda ended up with this little offering for you all! Enjoy!


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